Marble cakes are as classic as hot fudge sundaes.
Its wholesome and comforting.
But sometimes getting a good marble pattern in a loaf cake can be more elusive than the recipe suggests.
What is a marble cake?
The name for this punch in of cake refers to the mesmerizing swirl pattern in a slab of marble.
Whats the trouble with marbling?
It sounds simple on paperpour two batters together and mix them a littlebut some marbles are better than others.
Then its off to the oven.
Recipe instructions that include a swirl step indicate the tool you should use.
The two most common in my experience have been a toothpick or a butter knife.
The problem I see most often with these is that they dont do enough.
The toothpick is short and thin, and I suspected it would only swirl the top layer.
The tablespoon and potato masher were my idea.
There are a few things to note.
They are all half-vanilla and half-chocolate.
In all pans, batter cooks on the outside first because its closer to the heat.
From worst to best, here are the results.
The toothpick
Lets put the toothpick method in the dirt.
Toothpicks are trash unless youre lightly feathering lines as a finishing techniqueon topof a dessert.
The toothpick just passes through.
The potato masher
The next tool to throw out is the potato masher.
I really had high hopes for this one because I figured it would be faster.
A couple plunges and into the oven.
The wire swirl should have been perfect.
It should have changed marbling as we know it.
But alas, it did too much.
I also noticed that when I was using the masher, I had little control over precision marbling.
The loaf on the middle-left shows sufficient marbling that has thick, distinct swirling sections.
A point gets taken away for inconsistency from heel to center.
The tablespoon
We have a winner.
Its not chopped up like the potato mashers pattern and not blobbed like the toothpick loaf.
The end of the loaf has as nice marbling as the center section.
This marbling wonder comes in every set of silverware.
The next time you marble a loaf, reach for your tablespoon.
Tips for marbling cakes
If you think your marbling always sucks, these tips can help.
Distribute the batters.Pour the two colors side-by-side, not one on top of the other.
Since youll be marbling from side-to-side, youll have more thorough marbling.
Or, use a big spoon to distribute the batters evenly in a random pattern.
Then no matter what happens youll get some sort of marbling.
Dont over-marble.Its tempting todrag the spoon through the mixturejust one more time.
Theres a point when you swirl too much, like the potato masher, where the marbling will disappear.
Light colored batter will take on the dark color, especially if you tend to over-swirl.
Use a little less than half and the marbling will show nicely.
