But how will I eat cake if my head is over there, and my hands are over here?”
― Marie Antoinette
I read this somewhere and laughed my head off! It seemed topical to do so.
This can’t be a real quote by the unfortunate royal but I second the sentiment. Eating cake is way too important and to be disembodied leaves you with no option at all, to indulge.
To fuel my passion of eating cake, I bake a fair amount, mostly home-style stuff. I like the whole process of precise measurements, working out the exact ratios of ingredients, the whisking and folding, the waiting on tenterhooks as the house fills up with the warm aroma of cake and the final unmoulding of a sweet sensation. Most of the time its consumed with much pleasure and that signals a successful downing of curtains on that day’s baking and enough demands for an encore to keep me motivated.
This weekend I baked a marble cake. I ate this for the first time when living in Germany. My landlady baked this wonderful dessert, the fragrant vanilla cake streaked with fat veins of rich chocolate cake. It seemed like magic - the way the random chocolate streaks marbled the cake like a creation of nature. I was fascinated and was sure that this was an impossibly difficult piece of art. I enjoyed the cake with coffee and left it at that.
Years later I looked for a recipe for this and found one that seemed really simple. I was skeptical of the simplicity but tried it out nevertheless. And hallelujah! As I gingerly sliced the cake I was delighted to see the streaks of marble and ooh! It was delicious as well.
So for those who like to potter in the kitchen here is my recipe.
You need:
• 50g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
• 175g softened unsalted butter
• 175g castor sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 175g flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease a 20 cm round cake tin and line the bottom with non-stick baking paper.
Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water and keep warm. Cream the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time until well combined. Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder and the vanilla. Add the milk a little at a time till you get a smooth dropping consistency to the batter.
Remove half the batter and stir in the melted chocolate until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the cake mixtures into the prepared tin, alternating between mixtures and starting with the light mixture. Bake for 60—75 minutes or until cooked through.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
And Guten Apetit!
I read this somewhere and laughed my head off! It seemed topical to do so.
This can’t be a real quote by the unfortunate royal but I second the sentiment. Eating cake is way too important and to be disembodied leaves you with no option at all, to indulge.
To fuel my passion of eating cake, I bake a fair amount, mostly home-style stuff. I like the whole process of precise measurements, working out the exact ratios of ingredients, the whisking and folding, the waiting on tenterhooks as the house fills up with the warm aroma of cake and the final unmoulding of a sweet sensation. Most of the time its consumed with much pleasure and that signals a successful downing of curtains on that day’s baking and enough demands for an encore to keep me motivated.
This weekend I baked a marble cake. I ate this for the first time when living in Germany. My landlady baked this wonderful dessert, the fragrant vanilla cake streaked with fat veins of rich chocolate cake. It seemed like magic - the way the random chocolate streaks marbled the cake like a creation of nature. I was fascinated and was sure that this was an impossibly difficult piece of art. I enjoyed the cake with coffee and left it at that.
Years later I looked for a recipe for this and found one that seemed really simple. I was skeptical of the simplicity but tried it out nevertheless. And hallelujah! As I gingerly sliced the cake I was delighted to see the streaks of marble and ooh! It was delicious as well.
So for those who like to potter in the kitchen here is my recipe.
You need:
• 50g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
• 175g softened unsalted butter
• 175g castor sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 175g flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease a 20 cm round cake tin and line the bottom with non-stick baking paper.
Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water and keep warm. Cream the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time until well combined. Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder and the vanilla. Add the milk a little at a time till you get a smooth dropping consistency to the batter.
Remove half the batter and stir in the melted chocolate until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the cake mixtures into the prepared tin, alternating between mixtures and starting with the light mixture. Bake for 60—75 minutes or until cooked through.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
And Guten Apetit!
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