Marble Pound Cake
My Marble Pound Cake recipe is the best of both worlds as it has the perfect combination of chocolate and vanilla swirled together in a beautiful and stunning loaf! It is truly a show-stopping dessert with its eye-catching ribbons of chocolate and vanilla. The taste and texture of this marble pound cake is wonderful with a moist and dense crumb and a harmonious balance of sweet vanilla and rich chocolate. It is an absolutely special dessert that is also easy to make since it doesn’t require the use of an electric mixer!
As with all my recipes, I use the scientific method to carefully craft them to ensure you get deliciously perfect results every time. I tested several recipes for this marble pound cake to get the perfect texture, flavor, and ratio between chocolate and vanilla.
Traditionally, pound cake is made with butter. However, I chose to use canola oil and sour cream to get the same dense and moist texture because oil and sour cream do not solidify when refrigerated unlike butter. This means that you can refrigerate this marble pound cake without it getting hard, which is what would happen if butter were in it. With no butter, you can enjoy it straight out of the refrigerator without having to wait for it to soften, and you don’t want to wait to enjoy something as delicious as this marble pound cake!
I hope you try my marble pound cake because it tastes even better than it looks!
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
3 large eggs
75 grams (1/3 cup) of full-fat sour cream
200 grams (1 cup) of white granulated sugar
1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
192 grams (1 1/2 cups) of all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
19 grams (3 tablespoons) of Dutch-process cocoa powder (preferably Droste)
2 tablespoons of boiling water
Yields 1 loaf (10-12 slices)
Instructions
Let all ingredients come to room temperature.
Geeky Tip: Ingredients that are all the same temperature incorporate more easily and fully.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan. Cut a strip of parchment paper about 7 inches wide. Put it in the pan with its edges hanging outside the pan, so you can use it to lift out the loaf after baking.
Geeky Tip: Oven temperatures vary wildly, so get an oven thermometer. When my oven “beeps” to indicate pre-heating is done, it is usually 50-75 degrees below the target temperature. An oven thermometer is the best $5 baking investment you can make!
Boil the 2 tablespoons of water. Mix it into the cocoa powder until fully incorporated and smooth. Set it aside.
Whisk together the eggs. Add in the sugar and oil, and whisk together until fully incorporated.
Mix in pure vanilla extract.
Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Geeky Tip: Whisking together all the dry ingredients ensures a homogenous mixture, and it breaks up any clumps in the flour. Also, make sure to keep flour in an airtight container in a cool, dry place to maintain freshness and prevent spoilage.
Add half of the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Mix together until almost incorporated with a few spots or streaks of flour left.
Mix in the sour cream until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Gently mix in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Geeky Tip: Overmixing will build up the gluten and protein structure in the dough and lead to a tougher and denser cake.
Put 300 grams (little less than half of the batter) of the batter into a separate bowl. Gently fold the cocoa into this separate batter until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Put dollops (2 tablespoons) of batter into the loaf pan, alternating between the chocolate and vanilla batters.
Geeky Tip: Using two ice cream or cookie scoops work exceptionally well for this. Use one for chocolate, and use the other for vanilla. The little scraper in them makes it easier to cleanly deposit the batter into the loaf pan.
With a knife or skewer, swirl the batter to create a marble look. Don’t swirl it too much or else the chocolate and vanilla batters will blend together.
Bake in the center of the oven’s center rack at 350 degrees F. for 55-60 minutes. Loaf is done when a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of it comes out clean or with only a few crumbs on it, or when a thermometer inserted into the center of it reads 203-208 degrees F.
After baking, place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 15-20 minutes before removing the loaf from it. Once removed from the pan, let the loaf cool on the wire rack for 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy!
Storage
The loaf can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 1 week. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Marble Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 75 grams (1/3 cup) of full-fat sour cream
- 200 grams (1 cup) of white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of canola oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 192 grams (1 1/2 cups) of all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 19 grams (3 tablespoons) of Dutch-process cocoa powder, preferably Droste
- 2 tablespoons of boiling water
Instructions
- Let all ingredients come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pan. Cut a strip of parchment paper about 7 inches wide. Put it in the pan with its edges hanging outside the pan, so you can use it to lift out the loaf after baking.
- Boil the 2 tablespoons of water. Mix it into the cocoa powder until fully incorporated and smooth. Set it aside.
- Whisk together the eggs. Add in the sugar and oil, and whisk together until fully incorporated.
- Mix in pure vanilla extract.
- Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add half of the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Mix together until almost incorporated with a few spots or streaks of flour left.
- Mix in the sour cream until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Gently mix in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Put 300 grams (little less than half of the batter) of the batter into a separate bowl. Gently fold the cocoa into this separate batter until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Put dollops (2 tablespoons) of batter into the loaf pan, alternating between the chocolate and vanilla batters.
- With a knife or skewer, swirl the batter to create a marble look. Don’t swirl it too much or else the chocolate and vanilla batters will blend together.
- Bake in the center of the oven’s center rack at 350 degrees F. for 55-60 minutes. Loaf is done when a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of it comes out clean or with only a few crumbs on it, or when a thermometer inserted into the center of it reads 203-208 degrees F.
- After baking, place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 15-20 minutes before removing the loaf from it. Once removed from the pan, let the loaf cool for 2 hours before serving.
Notes
The loaf can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 1 week. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.