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!
What's In This Blog Post
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
- Prepare three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan spray. Preheat the oven to 335ºF (168ºC).
- 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.
- Heat the water until it’s simmering and then combine it with your cocoa powder.
- Stir it until the cocoa powder is moistened. It will look lumpy, but that is normal.
- Set it aside and let it cool while you prepare the cake batter.
- In a separate container, combine ¾ cup of the milk and the oil together and set it aside.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Add in your milk/oil mixture and mix it on low until the dry ingredients are moistened.
- 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.
- Scrape your bowl and then reduce the speed to low.
- Add in your egg mixture in three batches, letting the batter mix for 15 seconds between additions.
- Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything has incorporated.
Marbling the Cake Batter Step-by-Step
- Take out ⅓ of your batter and combine it with the cooled chocolate mixture and fold it gently until it's combined.
- Layer your batter into your pans, starting with vanilla, then chocolate, and ending with vanilla.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Thaw the cake on the countertop while it's still wrapped before frosting.
How to Make Ganache Frosting
- Place your chocolate into a heatproof bowl.
- Heat your cream until it just begins to simmer. Do not boil it or your ganache will be grainy.
- Pour the hot cream over your chocolate.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Add your vanilla and salt to the chocolate mixture and whisk it until it's smooth and creamy.
- Pour your ganache into a shallow pan and let it cool to peanut butter consistency. Mine takes about 20 minutes to thicken up.
- 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.
- Dust it with cocoa powder using a soft (new) makeup brush to make the velvet texture.
Ganache Drip Instructions
- Heat the cream until it's just steaming, and then pour it over chocolate.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Whisk it until it's smooth.
- 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.
- 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.
- Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of ganache. This is called the crumb coat.
- Then, put the entire cake in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Prepare your chocolate drip and let it cool to 90ºF (32ºC).
- Apply your final layer of ganache and smooth it out with your offset spatula and bench scraper.
- 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.
- Put your drip ganache into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- 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.
FAQ
Surprisingly, I get this question a lot. This recipe is meant to be baked in three 8" x 2" cake pans so that you get three nice layers of cake in each slice. But you can definitely use other sizes of cake pans like a ¼ sheet pan or square pans.
You may need to increase or decrease the recipe to fit the size of your pan.
You can also use this recipe to make cupcakes, but it makes a lot! My cupcakes baked at 350ºF for 15 minutes but you should bake them until the center bounces back when you touch it.
Yes, you may use a bundt pan or a loaf pan. Just follow the same process of taking out ⅓ of the batter and adding in the bloomed cocoa powder to make the vanilla cake batter chocolate.
Yes, you can. But you will need to create a homemade buttermilk substitute first using regular milk along with other ingredients. There are several buttermilk substitutes I would recommend in place of buttermilk for this recipe.
Whenever you're introducing cocoa powder into a cake recipe, it can dry the cake out. You can avoid dry cake when you bloom your cocoa powder before mixing it with your vanilla cake batter.
Blooming is when you combine the cocoa powder with hot water, coffee or cold oil and let it sit for a few minutes until it starts to look spongy. Now that the cocoa powder is moistened, it won't suck up all the moisture from your vanilla cake batter.
Your oven temperature was most likely too high. Check your oven with an oven thermometer and reduce the temperature accordingly if it is running hotter than you need it to be.
More Cake Recipes You'll Love
Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Marble Cake Ingredients
- 16 ounces cake flour
- 16 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 5 ounces vegetable oil
- 14 ounces buttermilk room temperature or slightly warm
- 8 ounces butter unsalted and softened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ounce cocoa powder dutch or natural
- 3 ounces hot water
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder for dusting
Ganache Frosting
- 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ganache Drip
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 4 ounces heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Cake Batter Instructions
- Prepare three 8″x2″ cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan spray. Preheat your oven to 335ºF (168ºC).
- 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.
- Heat the water until it’s simmering and then combine it with your cocoa powder.
- Stir it until the cocoa powder is moistened. It will look lumpy, but that is normal.
- Set it aside and let it cool while you prepare the cake batter.
- In a separate container, combine ¾ cup of the milk and the oil together and set it aside.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Add in your milk/oil mixture and mix it on low until the dry ingredients are moistened.
- 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.
- Scrape your bowl and then reduce the speed to low.
- Add in your egg mixture in three batches, letting the batter mix for 15 seconds between additions.
- Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything has incorporated.
Marbling the Cake Batter Instructions
- Take out ⅓ of your batter and combine it with the cooled chocolate mixture and fold it gently until it’s combined.
- Layer your batter into your pans, starting with vanilla, then chocolate, and ending with vanilla.
- Use a butter knife to swirl them together gently. Do not over-mix or your cake will not have a marbled interior.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Thaw the cake on the countertop while it’s still wrapped before frosting.
Ganache Frosting Instructions
- Place your chocolate into a heatproof bowl.
- Heat your cream until it just begins to simmer. Do not boil it or your ganache will be grainy.
- Pour the hot cream over your chocolate.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Add in your vanilla and salt to the chocolate mixture and whisk it until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Pour your ganache into a shallow pan and let it cool to peanut butter consistency. Mine takes about 20 minutes to thicken up.
- Frost your cake with the ganache and then place it into the fridge for 20 minutes. This cake also pairs well with easy buttercream or chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.
- Dust it with cocoa powder using a soft (new) makeup brush to make the velvet texture.
Ganache Drip Instructions
- Heat the cream until it’s just steaming, and then pour it over chocolate.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- Whisk it until it’s smooth.
- Let it cool until it’s slightly warm to the touch before piping it onto your CHILLED cake.
Video
Notes
Cake flour sources: UK - Shipton Mills Cake & Pastry Flour
Maura says
Hi Liz, I made this cake for an order and it was a hit! Love, love your videos and recipes.
Thank you
Sahana says
Hi Liz, I want to make this cake but have a question about the egg weight. In the video you said that each egg should weigh about 1.6 oz, well I have organic eggs at home and they weigh about 2.0 oz each. I was wondering if I can multiply 1.6 oz by 4 to get the total weight of the eggs, so I can just weigh my eggs and get the total weight. Please let me know If this is ok.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes, just use as many eggs as it takes to reach the weight called for in the recipe. This is why a scale is so great 🙂
Sahana says
Thank you
Geetha says
Hi, Liz I have a question about the ganache frosting I was wondering if we can put the ganache frosting in a piping bag and write something on a cake with the ganache frosting? If the ganache frosting is ok to write with how much extra do you think I should make? My last question is can we make the ganache frosting ahead of time and keep it in the fridge? Please let me know.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can pipe with ganache when its at that peanut butter consistency. Watch the ganache tutorial for more info
Geetha says
Thank you
Sasha says
Hi Liz, for this cake can we use a low fat buttermilk?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can
Nicola says
This is the best marble cake that I ever made. I tried a few and they were always dry so whenever a client asked me for marble cake, I told them that I don't do marble cake. Don't have that excuse anymore. Thanks😁
Sasha says
Thank you
Dymen McCoy says
Hi Liz!!
So for cupcakes, do we swirl before adding to the cupcake pan or swirl as we drop into the pan? Hope that makes sense!
Also, how many cups does this batter make?
Elizabeth Marek says
I would swirl the batter before and then scoop the swirled batter into the cupcake liners but you could do either way.
JUVELYN LARGO says
It looks so lovely and I'm excited to try it. I will leave a comment of the result here. But I want to know if I can just use an Electric Hand mixer?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can
Amy How says
Hi Liz, normally your recipes will say 'Serves 8 cups or 4 cups', that way when I use the glider for the right pan size, I will know how much to follow. How come for this marble cakes it says "Serves: 24 servings"?
I actually would like to do only one 8 x 2 pan and my math is bad.... can you please assist? thanks
Elizabeth Marek says
I updated the recipe for you!
Amy How says
Thank you for the update. One more question, the egg, you mentioned it should be 1.6oz is that with shell or without? Thanks again.
Elizabeth Marek says
Without the shell and a few points up or down is ok. Ive had some large eggs that weigh 1.7 and some that are 1.5
G says
Thank you for the recipes and videos. Has anyone ever mentioned adjustments that work for high elevation? I’m at about 3500 above sea level. I have made your vanilla cake and followed the recipe with no alterations and it taste great. It was just so tender and almost falling apart. I would like to try this recipe but wonder if I need to modify for a stronger structure at the higher elevation. Again thank you for sharing.
Elizabeth Marek says
I have this article on making adjustments for high elevation https://sugargeekshow.com/news/high-altitude-baking-hacks/
Emily says
I love this recipe! It’s a my top requested cake for parties!!! Was wondering if I could make it into cupcakes for my littles next birthday. How long would you bake?
Elizabeth Marek says
I would use my vanilla cake recipe if you wanted to make this into cupcakes. You can still remove part of the batter and add cocoa to it to make them into marble cupcakes.
Thatgirl25 says
Awesome recipe ever cake was moist and fluffy added some thc oil and butter in there and it was even better
Elizabeth Marek says
Thats a great idea haha!
Mary eileen Loscos says
Can I whip the ganache? Or will it ruin the consistency?
Elizabeth Marek says
You can but I don't like the consistency of whipped ganache, it gets kind of spongy and hard to handle
Nicolette says
Best Marble cake ever! Tender crumb, moist and flavorful. This is the exact taste, texture and flavor I want in a Marble cake. This is just spot-on. My search is over. Thank you for an amazing recipe!
Manju says
hi i do not have a stand mixer. can i use a hand mixer for the cake and ganache. thank u!!
Elizabeth Marek says
You sure can! You might have to mix a bit longer 🙂
Lisa says
Hi! I was searching for a marble cake recipe and found yours, it looks super yummy and I really want to try it.
My friend actually requested for a lemon and chocolate marble cake (because he loves lemon). Would it be possible to follow your recipe but opt out almond extract for the batter base, and add lemon extract to 2/3 of the batter while 1/3 stays as chocolate?
Thank you for sharing!
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you could do that
Stephanie Zona says
Would a bigger pan take longer to cook? I made a double batch to make 3 10inch pans and it was about 50 to 55min at 335°F could that just be my oven?
Elizabeth Marek says
The bigger the pan, the longer it will take to bake
Nazia says
I don't have cake flour... can I use self rising flour?
Sugar Geek Show says
No self rising flour unfortunately won't work for this cake. If you can't find cake flour try searching for Shipton mills soft cake and pastry flour or flour that has a protein level of 9% or less.
Lisa says
Hi Liz
I can't find cake flour could i use something else. Or can I make my own cake flour?.
Thank you
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi, this recipe is formulated to work best with cake flour. Because of the reverse creaming method if you try to make your own or use AP flour it could turn out with a cornbread-like consistency. Try searching for Shipton mills soft cake and pastry flour or flour that has a protein level of 9% or less.
Sarah says
Hello, if I don't have buttermilk can I do the vinegar method, use regular milk or should I go on a hunt for some buttermilk? p.s. we absolutely LOVE your chocolate Macaron recipe, I've made it three times already and they are always a hit!!!
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi! Buttermilk definitely works the best, but you can use the vinegar trick if needed. Here's my blog post with a few different substitutes: https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/buttermilk-substitute/
Sarah Belleau says
Please ignore my previous question, I am not sure how I missed to blurb about buttermilk substitutions. I ended up making the cream of tartar substitute and WOW the cake turned out amazing! You are a genius and a miracle worker in the baking department!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Gina says
Best cake ever!!! So moist, not that sweet, just perfect!