Marble Cake

A classic marble cake feels a bit like an illusionist's sleight-of-hand trick. A fluffy butter cake with distinct vanilla and chocolate flavoures woven throughout, it's swirled to ensure no one piece is identical. It looks so complicated, so much like a work of art, you think that there must be some deep technique that's required to pull this off. In fact, it couldn't be easier. One batter, split in two. That's the magic trick - a dazzling result that is so simple to execute.

For the marbling, try to create the lines in one smooth motion, and make sure that your mixing tool is lightly touching the bottom of the pan, so the swirling effect is throughout the batter and not just on the top. Don't get too carried away otherwise the flavours are going to get too muddled. Just a couple of vertical strokes, then side to side should do the trick.

You'll also need to 'bloom' the cocoa by adding the coffee to make a spongy paste. This means that the cocoa won't suck up all the moisture from the batter and dry the cake out, and the coffee will enhance and add complexity to the chocolate flavour.

If you want to add some extra colour to this cake, divide the batter into thirds and add stir some red food colouring into one of the bowls for a Neapolitan effect. My original source recipe suggested to add in 'a few drops of cochineal', which turns out to be red food colouring, made from ground-up insects that live on prickly pears. Thanks, internet!