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
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: 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.
134 Comments
This was the best marble cake recipe I have ever tried! It was so tasty that half of the cake was over before it could get enough time to cool on the rack! This time I just made the half cake with no frosting. Planning to make the full version with chocolate frosting. We love marble cakes and this is going to be my go to recipe hereafter. We all loved your Black forest cake and now this one too is a favourite. Thank you for sharing these wonderful recipes.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Nimitha! So so happy to hear you loved both the marble and blackforest cake recipes :D. Hope you enjoy the additional chocolate frosting just as much 😀
Hi M.K.. I absolutely love to watch your videos and the ones I have tried have all been amazing. THANK YOU SO MUCH for your time, effort, love and passion that we see in all your videos.
Forgive my inexperienced question..when I fold in the flour I get so many lumps in the batter and am so tempted to use the hand mixer again..are lumps normal or could you perhaps recommend a way to fix it.
Thanks again M.K
Hi Tasneem! So happy to hear you’re loving the videos and recipes 😀 and no need to apologise at all it’s a great question! So when folding, it’s okay to have little lumps in the batter, as long as there aren’t big chucks of unmixed flour 🙂 you can kind of press the batter up against the side of the bowl to help get rid of some of the lumps. Alternatively, if you prefer to have a smoother batter, you can use the hand mixer at the end on a low speed just until the lumps are almost gone (maybe about 10 seconds of mixing), as you don’t want to overmix the batter otherwise the cake won’t be as soft and fluffy 🙂 hope that helps!
Best recipe for marble cake ever!
Halved the recipe to make 1 x 8 inch cake without icing.
I made my own homemade buttermilk using a mixture of cream and milk + white vinegar and followed your recipe measurements exactly.
Cake was amazing! Thank you!
Awesome! So happy to hear you loved the recipe Janie 😀
Hiii! I love you all your recipes! Thank you for the great content and giving us these great recipes! I tried making this marble cake and it tasted delicious but when I tried to eat it and cut it, it was breaking apart, the crumb could not hold itself together. Do you know why this could happen? 🙁 the cake was already cold and chill from the day before. thanksss!!!
I forgot to mention that I used your homemade buttermilk recipe and reduced the amount as stated in the recipe when using homemade buttermilk. I followed the recipe carefully as well and the baking time.
Hi Melissa! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipes 😀 with the marble cake, it seems that perhaps the batter was undermixed, so not enough of the structure was developed for the cake to hold together. It could also be that there was just a little too much liquid in the recipe. If the cake had a good texture and was soft & fluffy throughout, then it’s most likely due to undermixing 🙂 just mix a bit more next time and this should do the trick! Also double check that you are using large eggs as eggs also help the cake hold together 🙂
I tried this with the same exact recipe…..it turned out really well and fluffy
So happy to hear you loved it Lorna 😀
I have never tried any of your recipes but they all look wonderful.
I want to make this recipe but have a question. If I don’t want to marble but instead want one pan chocolate and one vanilla, will there be enough batter to do this? It would be for 2 – 8″ pans.
Thanks for the help!
Hi Mary! 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself but I imagine that would work fine and there should be enough batter for two 8 inch pans 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
The cake was a hit thank you very fluffy and moist
Awesome! So happy you enjoyed it Glenda 🙂
Hi,
Hope you are doing well. This looks beautiful and delicious. May I know how to make this recipe without eggs? I am a vegetarian and don’t eat eggs and would love to try this recipe.
Thank you
Nithyashree G
Hi Nithyashree! 🙂 I haven’t tried an eggless version of this recipe yet sorry, but I do have an eggless vanilla cake and eggless chocolate cake, so you can make 1/2 a batch each of those and combine them to make a marble cake 🙂
Can I use yogurt instead of butter milk as i’m on a dairy free diet ?
Hi Shayla! 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself but others have mentioned that they’ve used yoghurt but diluted it with a little extra water or milk to make it a bit thinner before using it in the cake. This may work for you 🙂
I just discovered the function above the recipe where you can increase or decrease the number of servings, which automatically adjusts the quantity of ingredients. I sat down with a calculator to do this and then noticed the “12” servings was highlighted and there was a sliding scale above. Thank you Mariam, you really have thought of every aspect to save time for us