Marble Cake

This is one pretty cake which does not require any frosting and it looks beautiful and tastes great by itself. It is very similar to the zebra cake except that the cake has a marbled effect and not the perfect black and white lines. It is fun to have a random mix of chocolate and plain vanilla cake in each bite.

Ingredients
Recipe Source: Joy of Baking
Maida/All purpose Flour - 2 1/4 cups
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup at room temperature
Granulated sugar - 1 1/4 cups
Eggs - 2
Semisweet Chocolate, chopped roughly - 2 oz or about 55 gms
Brewed coffee - 1 tablespon
Vanilla Extract - 2 teaspoons
Sour cream/Yogurt - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder - 1 tablespoon
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt the semisweet chocolate and brewed coffee in a double boiler (Bring water to a simmering boil in a saucepan. Place a the semisweet chocolate and brewed coffee in a stainless steel bowl and place the bowl in the saucepan with water). Once the chocolate melts, remove from the heat and set aside. Alternatively, you could microwave the chocolate and coffee together for about 30 seconds.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a hand mixer/electric mixer until soft and fluffy or about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one by one and continue beating. Slowly add in the vanilla extract and sour cream and beat until well incorporated.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and milk by alternating them and continue beating, until you have added all the flour and milk.

Once the batter is ready, pour half of the batter into another bowl and add the melted chocolate into one half and mix thoroughly.

Grease a bundt/loaf pan and pour the batter into the pan alternating with a spoon of chocolate and vanilla batter. Using a spatula or a spoon, draw some swirls in the batter to give a swirling effect.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes and slice the cake.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This cake makes a great snack at picnics and this is my post for the Blogging Marathon with the theme Picnic Food. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#6

Idly Upma, Cake, Raspberries

Idly Upma with Vegetables and sambar powder :

Dinner leftover Idly cut into small pieces, vegetables I used brocolli, mushroom, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, yellow orange red bell peppers. Heat a spoonful oil in a pan add mustard seeds, jeera, ginger-garlic paste, curry leaves (kadipatta), chopped onion, vegetables , Idly pieces mixed with salt sugar and lemon juice. cover and let it cook for 5 min stirring in between.

Cake : 3 cups of 100% Whole wheat flour (not atta - trader joes has a good one), 1 stick butter 8oz, 1 cup sugar (1/4 or 1/2 cup more can be added), 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp pure lemon/orange extract, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking pawder.

Mix in order eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon and flour with baking powder, at the end milk. I mix it in kitchenaid mixer and bake it in bundt cake pan (cake looks like big donut) at 350F for 50 min.

and Raspberries.

Red, White and Blue Flag Cake

4th of July is upon us yet again, but this year I wanted to make a different cake than the one I usually serve, which is a flag cake made out of strawberries and blueberries OR using blueberry or cherry pie filling to make the stars and stripes.

I searched around online and then I saw it.  My jaw hit the ground and I thought "NO WAY".  I was just completely taken with the cake and even more so when I realized that the creator is none other than Elissa from 17 and Baking.  Yeah folks, a now 19 year old, Elissa and her dad came up with this creation for the 4th of July and if you've never seen it before, you're going to flip out.  Just imagine your guests reaction when you serve them a slice of this cake.

Red, White and Blue Flag Cake

Credit:  Elissa

Baking Directions:
To make this cake you will need three full layers of white cake, all the same height (make two recipes of cake or two cake mixes - you will end up with four layers so use one for another purpose). One layer will need to be white, one layer will need to be red and one layer will need to be blue. Use food coloring to get desired shade. Bake the layers in 9" round greased and floured rounds. Let cool. Freeze the layers to make them easier to work with during assembly.

Assembly:
Split the white layer and the red layer in half horizontally using a long serrated knife. (You can also use a cake leveler to help keep the cut even.) Do not split the blue layer. Start assembly by placing one split white layer on a cake plate. Frost the top of this layer using white icing. Place one of the red split layers on top of the frosted white layer and frost it with icing. Set aside.

Place the remaining red split layer and the remaining white split layer on top of the full blue layer. Place a round bowl (or paper pattern) approximately 5" diameter on the top of the cakes in the center and cut through all the layers using the bowl as a guide.

You should now have a circle cut through the layers. Keep the center red circle, the center white circle and the outer (approximately 2" wide) blue cake ring. Set aside all other cake pieces for a different use.

Place the outer blue cake ring piece on the iced white and red cake layers.

Carefully spread icing around the inside of the blue ring.

Insert the round white cake piece in the center of the blue ring and ice. Insert the red round cake piece making sure it is flush with the blue cake ring.

You should now have a complete cake ready to ice. Finish by icing the entire cake with white icing and decorating as desired.

To serve, cut into slices and be amazed at the cool flag each piece becomes!