Marble Cake

It seems most of my posts are about birthday cakes at work. The problem is it's hard to blog about them unless it is something new. I had never made a marble cake so I went searching for one and found this one on a blog I had in my favorites Baking Bites. I found that it's tricky getting the chocolate mixed with the vanilla batter though.

BLACK AND WHITE MARBLE CAKE

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cocoa powder, hot water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and sour cream. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture (ending with addition of flour), mixing until no streaks of flour remain. Scoop out 1 cup of cake batter and stir into cocoa mixture. Spread white batter into prepared pan. Top with chocolate batter and drag a knife through to create a swirling pattern (don’t over marble, though!). Bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and cocoa in a medium saucepan and whisk until cocoa is dissolved. Add butter, milk, corn syrup and salt, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil (about 10 minutes). Continue boiling; stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (approx 1 hour). Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla and pour on cake. Frosting will spread easily and will set up itself after a few minutes.