If you’re looking for a fluffy, moist marble cake that is going to WOW your family and friends, then this recipe is it! Soft layers of vanilla and chocolate cake are combined together and topped with a whipped chocolate ganache frosting – YUM! It comes together so easily using only one recipe that’s based on my 5 star rated vanilla cake recipe, which I promise will not disappoint!
What is a marble cake?
A marble cake is a type of cake that gets its name from the distinct marbled pattern it has when sliced. It is made by combining two different flavors of cake batter, usually vanilla and chocolate, in a way that creates a swirling effect.
Sometimes this effect also creates zebra like patterns (like the design I have chosen), so it’s also referred to as a zebra cake.
How do you make marble cake?
This cake surprisingly comes together very easily, despite how complicated it may look!
Begin by preheating your oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 on recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2 on recipe card below), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3 on recipe card below).
Divide the batter equally into two separate bowls (I would recommend weighing the batter to make sure you have an even amount in each bowl. Mine comes to around 685g each once divided).
To one half of the batter, add in the cocoa powder, instant coffee powder and vegetable oil. Fold with a spatula until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. You can use your own marbling technique or use the method I like to use which gives you a very cool pattern on the inside.
To do this, place 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter in the middle of each cake tin. Spread out a little and then directly on top of it add in 3 tablespoons of the vanilla cake batter. Repeat these steps alternating between the two flavours. Every now and then I like to gently shake/twirl the cake tin to help the batter spread out towards the edges of the cake tin (I would recommend watching the video below for a demonstration of this technique).
Once all the batter is used up, gently shake the tins again to help even out the batter, and gently tap them on your countertop twice to remove any large air bubbles.
OPTIONAL: If you won’t be icing your cake, then you create a nice flower like pattern on the top of your cake. To do this, place a toothpick at the edge of the cake tin, and drag it into the middle of the cake tin and lift it out. Wipe the toothpick clean and then do the same thing on the opposite side of the cake tin. Now keep doing this, working your way around the cake tin (I do it 8 times in total). I would recommend watching the video demonstration below as it’s a little hard to explain! 🙂
Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, let the cakes cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
How to make Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Chop up your chocolate into small pieces (no need to do this if using chocolate callets) and place in a heat proof bowl.
Place the cream in a saucepan over a low-medium heat and heat it up until it begins to gently bubble. Once it’s gently bubbling, immediately take it off the heat (you don’t want to overheat the cream) and pour it over the chocolate.
Allow the chocolate/cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes untouched. After 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and then using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Keep the immersion blender on the bottom of the bowl to prevent air bubbles getting into the ganache.
Pour the ganache into a wide baking tray/dish (this will allow it to cool quicker), and cover it with cling wrap so that it’s touching the top of the ganache. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Place it in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow it to thicken up and become very cold. You can also do this step the day beforehand.
Once ready, pour the ganache into a bowl and whip until you reach stiff peaks. It comes together quite quickly so be careful not to overwhip the cream. Use it to frost your marble cake 🙂
How to assemble your marble cake
Begin by placing your first cake layer onto your cake stand and smooth out a generous amount of the whipped ganache frosting on top.
Then place your next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more whipped ganache. I like to smooth out the sides with my cake scraper.
Finish off the top with some piping. I used a 1M piping tip. After that, cut a slice and enjoy!
Fluffy Marble Cake
IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 2¼ cups (300 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornflour - also known as cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1⅔ cups (332 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1¼ tbsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1½ cups (337 g) buttermilk - room temperature, see note 5 if using a homemade buttermilk substitute
Extra Ingredients for Chocolate Portion of Cake
- ⅓ cup (33 g) cocoa powder - unsweetened, dutch processed preferred
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder
- 1 tbsp unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- 3 cups (675 g) cream - minimum fat percentage of 34%
- 1⅔ cups (270 g) dark chocolate - I use 50% dark chocolate, semi-sweet okay too
Instructions
- IMPORTANT: For this recipe I would highly recommend using gram measurements, especially for the flour for accurate results. It has a high fat/liquid ratio so slight adjustments to the quantities can throw off the balance of the cake 🙂
- If using the whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting, then I would recommend making it before you start on the cake as it needs time to cool in the fridge before whipping (instructions for making the ganache are after the vanilla cake).
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3).
- Divide the batter equally into two separate bowls (I would recommend weighing the batter to make sure you have an even amount in each bowl. Mine comes to around 685g each once divided).
- To one half of the batter, add in the cocoa powder, instant coffee powder and vegetable oil. Fold with a spatula until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. You can use your own marbling technique or use the method I like to use which gives you a very cool pattern on the inside. To do this, place 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter in the middle of each cake tin. Spread out a little and then directly on top of it add in 3 tablespoons of the vanilla cake batter. Repeat these steps alternating between the two flavours. Every now and then I like to gently shake/twirl the cake tin to help the batter spread out towards the edges of the cake tin (I would recommend watching the video below for a demonstration of this technique).
- Once all the batter is used up, gently shake the tins again to help even out the batter, and gently tap them on your countertop twice to remove any large air bubbles.
- OPTIONAL: If you won't be icing your cake, then you create a nice flower like pattern on the top of your cake. To do this, place a toothpick at the edge of the cake tin, and drag it into the middle of the cake tin and lift it out. Wipe the toothpick clean and then do the same thing on the opposite side of the cake tin. Now keep doing this, working your way around the cake tin (I do it 8 times in total). I would recommend watching the video demonstration below as it's a little hard to explain! 🙂
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, let the cakes cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the whipped chocolate ganache or another frosting of your choice.
Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache
- Chop up your chocolate into small pieces (no need to do this if using chocolate callets) and place in a heat proof bowl.
- Place the cream in a saucepan over a low-medium heat and heat it up until it begins to gently bubble. Once it's gently bubbling, immediately take it off the heat (you don't want to overheat the cream) and pour it over the chocolate.
- Allow the chocolate/cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes untouched. After 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and then using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Keep the immersion blender on the bottom of the bowl to prevent air bubbles getting into the ganache.
- Pour the ganache into a wide baking tray/dish (this will allow it to cool quicker), and cover it with cling wrap so that it's touching the top of the ganache. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Place it in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow it to thicken up and become very cold. You can also do this step the day beforehand.
- Once ready, pour the ganache into a bowl and whip until you reach stiff peaks. It comes together quite quickly so be careful not to overwhip the cream. Use it to frost your marble cake 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
61 Comments
1. What type of cream ,can powered milk go? How can I turn it to liquid?
2. Any chocolate chip cookies can go?
3 how to d butter cream
Hi Rose! 🙂 Unfortunately you can’t use milk for the ganache recipe, you would need to use a whipping cream that has a minimum fat percentage of about 34%. I have other frosting recipes you may like to check try out, here is the link 🙂 https://cakesbymk.com/recipe-category/frostings/
Recipe for homemade butter cream. Thanks, love d way you teach
Great 👍🏻
tried this recipe and the cake is amazing! It wasn’t stable however, very crumbly and holding it by hand had it breaking. What could I have done wrong?
Hi Lilian! Happy to hear the cake was great but sorry to hear it wasn’t very stable! Sounds like it may have been undermixed, or there was too much liquid in the batter. If you used the gram measurements, then it’s most likely the former. I would recommend mixing the batter at the end for a little longer to develop more of the structure and this should help 🙂
Hi Maryam. I made this cake with the homemade buttermilk mentioned in your notes and frosted the cake with ganache.
It tasted phenomenal! Thanks so much.
Hi. I used the grams measurements. I bake with fan 150* for 30mins. I used homemade butter milk. But I did use a ganache frosting instead. My cake turned out soft and fluffy but when I cut slices out of it, it was very a crumbley. Any advice why this might of happened and prevent this in the future. Thanks!
Hi Cat! 🙂 If the cake was very crumbly it’s usually a sign that the cake was overbaked. I would recommend checking it a little earlier next time and hopefully that will help. If you notice that it’s still crumbly then you may need to add a little more fat to the batter. There could be a slight difference in the brands of products we’re using, so adding in a little extra oil or butter should help 🙂
Hi MK! Can you please give me this Marble recipe for a three layer cake? Thank you.
Hi Lena! For a 3 layer 8 inch cake you just want to multiply all of the ingredients by 1.5 (so making an extra half batch) 🙂
hi does the milk have to be buttermilk?
Hi Barbara! Yes I would advise using buttermilk for this recipe 🙂 you can also make a buttermilk substitute (just keep in mind you want to use less of it as per the recipe notes), here is the link: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/how-to-make-buttermilk/
Hi 😀 Can this recipe be made in a 9 x 13 inch sheet pan? Thanks, love your recipes!
Hi Jules! Yes I believe that should work fine 🙂