Moist and Fluffy Marble Cake Recipe

Moist and fluffy marble cake made from scratch doesn't have to be complicated. Many times, you guys have asked me for an easy marble cake recipe that did not require two cake recipes. After a lot of testing, I finally have the PERFECT recipe for you based on my ever-popular vanilla cake recipe! 

What makes this cake so amazing is all you have to do is make the vanilla cake and then flavor part of the cake with my chocolate mixture to make the chocolate batter then swirl it all together! Simple!

Pair it with chocolate frosting and ganache drip and you've got yourself a vanilla and chocolate lover's dream cake!

Marble Cake Ingredients

Buttermilk - Buttermilk adds moisture, delicate texture, and flavor to the cake. If you do not have buttermilk, you can make your own using my preferred buttermilk substitutes.

Cake flour - Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour. What this means is that when you use cake flour in your cake recipe, your cake will be more tender and have a softer crumb.

PRO TIP: Do not fall for the “just add cornstarch to regular flour” trick. It does not work for this recipe. Your cake will look and taste like cornbread.

If you’re in the UK search for Shipton mills soft cake and pastry flour or flour that has a protein level of 9% or less.

Cake Batter Instructions

1. Prepare three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan spray. Preheat the oven to 335ºF (168ºC).
2. Bring your butter, milk, and eggs to room temperature. It’s really important when making a cake for the ingredients to all be slightly warm so they create an emulsion.
3. Heat the water until it’s simmering and then combine it with your cocoa powder.
4. Stir it until the cocoa powder is moistened. It will look lumpy, but that is normal.
5. Set it aside and let it cool while you prepare the cake batter.
6. In a separate container, combine ¾ cup of the milk and the oil together and set it aside.
7. In a separate container, combine the remaining milk, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract together. Whisk it to break up the eggs, and then set it aside.
8. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with the paddle attachment. Mix for 10 seconds to combine everything.
9. Add your softened butter to the flour mixture and mix on low until the mixture resembles coarse sand (this takes about 30 seconds). This style of mixing is called the reverse creaming method, and it will result in a very velvety, moist cake. A lot of my other cake recipes like brown butter cake and white velvet buttermilk cake use this method.
10. Add in your milk/oil mixture and mix it on low until the dry ingredients are moistened.
11. Increase the speed to medium (setting 2 on my Bosch Mixer, setting 4 on a KitchenAid) and let it mix for 2 minutes to develop the cake's structure. If you don't let your cake mix on this step, your cake could collapse.
12. Scrape your bowl and then reduce the speed to low.
13. Add in your egg mixture in three batches, letting the batter mix for 15 seconds between additions.
14. Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything has incorporated.

Marbling the Cake Batter Step-by-Step

1. Take out ⅓ of your batter and combine it with the cooled chocolate mixture and fold it gently until it's combined.
2. Layer your batter into your pans, starting with vanilla, then chocolate, and ending with vanilla.
3. Use a butter knife to swirl them together gently to create the marbling effect. Do not over-mix or your cake will not have a marbled interior.
4. Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes at 335ºF (168ºC) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly (but the cake has not begun to shrink yet from the sides of the pan). IMMEDIATELY TAP THE PAN FIRMLY on the countertop once to release the steam from the cake. This stops the cake from shrinking. Your bake time may vary depending on your oven and the size of cake pans you use.
5. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes inside of the pan before flipping them out. The cake will shrink a bit and that is normal.
6. Flip the cake onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely. I chill my cakes before handling them, or you can wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them to trap moisture in the cake.
7. Thaw the cake on the countertop while it's still wrapped before frosting.

How to Make Ganache Frosting

1. Place your chocolate into a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat your cream until it just begins to simmer. Do not boil it or your ganache will be grainy.
3. Pour the hot cream over your chocolate.
4. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
5. Add your vanilla and salt to the chocolate mixture and whisk it until it's smooth and creamy.
6. Pour your ganache into a shallow pan and let it cool to peanut butter consistency. Mine takes about 20 minutes to thicken up.
7. Frost your cake with the ganache and then place it in the fridge for 20 minutes. This cake also pairs well with easy buttercream or chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.
8. Dust it with cocoa powder using a soft (new) makeup brush to make the velvet texture.

Ganache Drip Instructions

1. Heat the cream until it's just steaming, and then pour it over chocolate.
2. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk it until it's smooth.
4. Let it cool until it's slightly warm to the touch before piping it onto your CHILLED cake. 

Decorating Step-by-Step

If you need to learn more or are new to cake decorating, check out my blog post on how to decorate your first cake step-by-step.

1. Place your first cake layer onto your cake plate, and then spread on a layer of the ganache about ¼" thick. Repeat this step with the last two cake layers. I like using ganache because it's super stable and delicious, but chocolate buttercream or easy buttercream would also pair well.
2. Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of ganache. This is called the crumb coat.
3. Then, put the entire cake in the fridge for 20 minutes. 
4. Prepare your chocolate drip and let it cool to 90ºF (32ºC).
5. Apply your final layer of ganache and smooth it out with your offset spatula and bench scraper. 
6. Using a soft (new) makeup brush, apply some cocoa powder to the outside of the ganache to make it look like it has a velvet texture. 
7. Put your drip ganache into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
8. Drip the ganache all the way around the top of the cake and finish it off with sprinkles.

What is marble cake made of?

Marble cake is made when you add a small amount of dark-colored batter to light-colored batter, and then lightly mix it to give the cake a marbled appearance. 

Why is it called a marble cake?

The idea of marbling two different colored batters into a cake originated in nineteenth-century Germany. Marble cake made its way to America with German immigrants before the Civil War. Originally, the cakes were marbled with molasses and spices.

In 1889, a recipe appeared in a popular cookbook that took advantage of Americans' obsession with chocolate and replaced molasses with chocolate. Thus, the popular marble cake that we know about today was born. 

During the 50's all the way through the 70's, bakeries in New York were adding almond extract to their marble cake batter as a signature flavor and sometimes referred to it as German marble cake. This was originally more of a snacking cake meant to be sliced and served without frosting and eaten with tea or coffee.

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