Marble Loaf Cake Recipe (+ Video)

This marble loaf cake recipe is best of both worlds, vanilla and chocolate. This recipe is made up of only single batter with addition of cocoa powder in half of the batter. So, no need to make two separate batters.

I love to have this marble loaf cake with a cup of coffee, my all time favorite 😋. Do you like it too? If yes, then this is the cake you should make.

It is very easy to create the marble effect in this recipe as l am going to show you how to do it step-by-step with pictures.

For more loaf cake recipes, try out my lemon pound cake, old fashioned pound cake or orange loaf cake.

This is the best treat for kids tiffing or for a potluck or impress your friends at gathering. I am sure you will love this marble loaf cake.

so, let us not wait any further and start making it 🙂.

Why this is the best marble loaf cake recipe?

1. Make with only one cake batter.
2. Intense vanilla and chocolate flavor.
3. Moist, tender, buttery melts in mouth cake.
4. Kids favorite 😍.
5. Can be easily stored or frozen.
6. No fancy ingredients (I.e. made up with easily available pantry ingredients)
7. Pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee (NY favorite 😍).

Marble loaf cake recipe - ingredients

Dry ingredients

• All-purpose flour - You can use your favorite brands all-purpose flour, nothing fancy here. I do not recommend cake flour here as that will make the cake fluffier and little bit on dryer side. It may not hold the crumbs properly.

• Sugar - Use regular granulated sugar or caster sugar. This mixes with butter nicely to create light and fluffy cake. If your sugar crystals are big then I would recommend to grind it using mixer and then use it.

• Cocoa powder - Since we are not using any chocolate here I would highly recommend to use Dutch processed cocoa powder or Hersheys dark cocoa powder for intense chocolate flavor. It is ok to use regular cocoa powder too but chocolate flavor might be slightly less.

• Salt - Use regular table salt. Skip it altogether if using salted butter.

Wet ingredients

• Unsalted Butter - As always I prefer to use unsalted butter then salted as I like to control the quantity of salt that goes in to the recipe. If you do not have unsalted butter use salted one but don't forget to skip out salt mentioned in the recipe.

• Vanilla - Use pure vanilla extract if possible for that intense flavor. It is ok to use regular extract or vanilla imitation too but pure extract will give you deep vanilla flavor.

• Eggs - Regular large eggs, no need of organic eggs here. Please make sure that eggs are at room temperature for proper mixing with other ingredients. If you forgot to take the eggs out then you just have to keep them under tapped hot water just for 5 minutes and you are all set.

• Oil - Use any flavorless oil here. If you have observed, I have rarely used oil in loaf cakes and I make it only using butter but I am using oil here. I have tried the cake recipes with butter and boil, both. Oil is very useful where it has cocoa powder as an ingredient. Oil will add moisture and make soft and tender cake.

Tools required

1. Measuring spoons
2. Weighing scale
3. Hand beater or stand mixer
4. Measuring Cups
5. Rubber spatula
6. Wooden stick
7. Parchment paper

Step-by-step instructions to make marble loaf cake recipe:

Let's see how to make marble loaf cake with step-by-step recipe :)

Sifting

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and prepare your 9×5 inch loaf pan. You can cover it with parchment paper or butter and flour method.

2. In a bowl, add sifter. Add all dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt) and sift them together. Keep it aside.

Beating

3. Add unsalted butter and sugar in another bowl. Use hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides in-between with a rubber spatula as needed.

4. Now add oil and beat again until combined, about 30 to 45 seconds.

5. Add eggs, one at a time. Using hand beater mix eggs in batter until it is just combined.

6. Now add pure vanilla extract and mix until it is just combined. Do not forget to scrape the bowl as needed.

Mixing

7. Add sifted dry ingredients in to the batter. beat it on low speed and mix until you see last streak of flour. DO NOT OVERMIX.

8. Remove 1/4 cup of milk and keep it aside. This is needed to add in chocolate cake batter.

9. Alternate the dry ingredients with milk. Beat again until it is just mixed.

Alternating

10. Repeat step 7 and step 8 until all of the dry ingredients and milk is finished.

11. Scrape the bowl and beat again. Our vanilla cake batter is ready now.

12. Remove 2 to 2.5 cups of batter in another bowl to create the chocolate cake batter.

Making chocolate batter

13. Add espresso coffee powder and sift cocoa powder in to this cake batter. Gently fold using rubber spatula. If you think adding espresso will give you coffee cake taste rather chocolate then I would definitely urge you to try adding. Coffee always enhances chocolate taste. I always use little bit of coffee in all my chocolate desserts.

14. Add remaining milk and fold it gently.

15. Our chocolate cake batter is ready. Now let's layer the vanilla and chocolate cake batter.

Assembling

16. Pour vanilla cake batter at bottom.

17. Now add a scoop of chocolate cake batter and alternate it with scoop of vanilla cake batter followed by chocolate cake batter and then vanilla cake batter and so on until all of the cake batter is utilized. Please refer the picture as shown here.

18. Using a toothpick, make horizontal zig-zags from one side of the pan to the other and then make vertical zig-zags from the top to the bottom.

19. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F (180 C)  for 55-60 minutes.

20. Toothpick test: Insert a toothpick in center of the cake, If it cleans out clean then it is ready. Take it out of the oven immediately. If toothpick has moist batter then bake the loaf cake for another couple of minutes.

21. Let is cool down for half an hour or 45 minutes. Remove it from pan and keep it on wire rack to cool down completely.

22. Cut into slices with serrated knife. Make sure it is completely cooled down before cutting down or it will fall apart.

23. Look at the texture and marble effect from inside. Enjoy!

How am I making it (video tutorial) :

https://youtu.be/j_DBi4zbZ9M

Marble loaf cake - storing and freezing instructions

This marble loaf cake can be easily stored at room temperature or in refrigerator or in freezer.

Make sure that the loaf is completely cooled down before storing it. You can store in air tight container or zip lock bags would work too.

Please refer table below for different options.

Sr. No.	Storing Type	Days/Weeks/Months
1	Room temperature	4-5 days
2	Refrigerator	up to 2.5 weeks
3	Freezer	up to 2 months

Thawing Instructions - Marble loaf cake

Cake tastes the best when it is soft and tender .So, it needs to be at room temperature. In case if it is frozen, keep it in refrigerator overnight and then at room temperature for an hour. If you are in hurry then pop it in microwave for 8 to 10 seconds and you are good to go.

Secret tips to make perfect and best marble loaf cake

• Use high quality cocoa powder - As chocolate flavor is solely dependent on cocoa powder so I would recommend to use wither Dutch processed cocoa powder or Hershey dark cocoa powder.

• Use room temperature ingredients - Always use room temperature ingredients as they mix up immediately with rest of the ingredients and you will avoid overmixing.

• Measure your ingredients properly - As I always say making cake is a science so it is important to measure your ingredients properly. For accurate results I would recommend to use weighing scale.

• Create Marble Effect - As the name suggests it is important to create marble effect. First create vanilla cake batter. Take some batter out and create chocolate batter. Then alternate vanilla and chocolate cake batter in loaf pan and finally swirl using large wooden stick. Follow my step-by-step process to create perfect marble effect.

• Do not overmix - Overmixing will make dense loaf cake so do not overmix, especially the flour. Mix until it is just combined.

• Cool the cake - Always cool the cake to room temperature before removing it from pan. This prevents the cake from breaking apart.

• Toothpick Test - Always perform toothpick test to check the doneness of the cake. Insert the toothpick and if it comes out clean then remove the cake from over. If it does not then pop it back in oven for another couple of minutes and check again.

Marble loaf cake recipe - FAQ's

• Can I use cake flour? No, I would not recommend using cake flour instead of all purpose flour. This will make fluffier and dry cake.

• What is size of loaf pan? I have used 9x5 inches loaf pan here. Please note that the baking will very if you use bigger or smaller pan. Baking time is not dependent on pan size alone but it is worth to make a point 🙂.

• Can I make this ahead of time?Absolutely! In fact I have observed that the cake actually tastes better the very next day. Try it out and let me know 😊.

• How to store this marble loaf cake? Please follow my storing and freezing instructions to store the cake. It also gives you details on different storage type.

Other Recipes:

If you like this recipe, you may like below ones

1. Old fashioned pound cake
2. Lemon pound cake

Request

Over to you :) Please make this marble loaf cake recipe and let me know how this turns out for you in the comments! I really love hearing from you, and your feedback is very much important to me.

If you post the marble loaf cake recipe to Instagram, do not forget to tag me. Tag @DessertKatta or Hashtag it #DessertKatta

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