Marble Pound Cake

With swirls of vanilla and chocolate batter, no slice of this marble pound cake is ever the same. Dress up a slice with chocolate sauce or ice cream.

When I was a kid, the homemade dessert I asked my mom for the most was pistachio marble bundt cake. 

I am pretty sure that was my first introduction to pistachios.

She found the recipe inside a pudding box. I still have the wrapper.  It’s a memento from my childhood.

And I love anything that’s marbled from a twist of chocolate and vanilla soft serve to cake.

What’s there not to like when you don’t have to decide between two flavors?

It has been on my to-bake list to come up with a from-scratch version that skips the cake mix and instant pudding, but I’m a little intimidated that it won’t live up to the original.

For now, I am sticking to vanilla and chocolate and not introducing pistachios to the mix in my marble pound cake.

With plenty of butter and vanilla extract, I don’t think pound cake gets enough credit. Maybe it’s because it isn’t baked in a fancy pan or doesn’t involve layers and frosting.

Pound cakes are so simple to bake and you can serve them with a scoop of ice cream or chocolate sauce to dress up a slice.

My son adores this marble pound cake. For the longest time he told me he didn’t like cake. I had to negotiate with him to take a bite.

I know that sounds really bad. Cake is not a vegetable. I understand!

My husband and I are just trying to get our son past the point of saying he doesn’t like a food, activity or place before he gives it a try.

Now that he’s such a fan of marble pound cake. I have him do most of the work.

Usually if I’m photographing something for the blog, I am very conscious of how things look, but the bigger the mess, the better the marble.

How To Make Marble Pound Cake

To start, we combine the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, baking powder and salt.

In a small bowl, we whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder.

Then we beat together the softened butter with sugar followed by the eggs and vanilla extract.

We take a cup of the vanilla batter and stir it into the cocoa mixture to create the chocolate batter.

I like to leave it to my son to alternate scoops of chocolate and vanilla batter and do the swirl.

Once the marble loaf cake is baked and cooled, there is so much excitement in the kitchen to slice the loaf revealing a different pattern on each piece.

Marble Pound Cake

• Author: Paige Adams
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 10-15 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25-30 minutes
• Yield: 1 loaf 1x

With swirls of vanilla and chocolate batter, no slice of this marble pound cake is ever the same. Dress up a slice with chocolate sauce or ice cream.

Ingredients

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1–1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus 3 tablespoons melted
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1–1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, line with parchment paper and then spray the paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the room temperature butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and milk until fully combined. Fold in the dry ingredients. Stir 1 cup of the batter into the cocoa powder mixture.
4. Spread a third of the vanilla batter into the prepared loaf pan. Alternate spoonfuls of chocolate and vanilla batter. Tap the pan on the counter to make the batter settle evenly. Use a knife to swirl and marble.
5. Bake for 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for another 40-45 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the cake starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil while baking.
6. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Notes

Adapted from Food & Wine March 2003