The idea of marbling two different colored batters into a cake originated in nineteenth century Germany. Marble cakes made their way to America with German immigrants before the Civil War. Originally the cakes were marbled with molasses and spices. One of the first recorded recipes for marble cake appears in an American cookbook called Aunt Babette’s Cook Book: Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household, published in 1889. This recipe replaced the traditional molasses and spice batter by marbling melted chocolate into the cake, a reflection of a new American obsession with chocolate. The cake remained popular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food by Gil Marks, “Many Jewish bakeries in the New York area in the 1950’s through the 1970’s would distinctively add a small amount of almond extract to the chocolate marble cake, creating a version sometimes referred to as a ‘German Marble Cake’ that had a characteristic almond aroma.”
What do you need to make marble cake?
This is my recipe for marble cake, which has become a family favorite over the past few years. I flavor my marble cake with almond extract as a nod to the classic German Jewish recipes. It’s a fairly simple recipe. All you need for this traditional version is vanilla cake batter, chocolate cake batter, a mixing bowl (no need for separate bowls – I have a trick for avoiding extra dishes), and a loaf pan!
How do you make a marble cake from scratch moist?
In a slightly modern twist, I add dry instant vanilla pudding mix to my batter. This little trick is a fantastic way to add moisture and flavor to your cakes; it also helps to thicken the batter, which provides the perfect texture for marbling. Be sure to use instant pudding mix, not cook-and-serve; just sift the dry mix in with the dry ingredients. It creates a wonderful texture and locks in moisture so the cake doesn’t dry out as quickly. It also gives a lovely vanilla essence to the batter, which blends nicely with the almond extract. They certainly weren’t doing it this way in Germany 150 years ago, but sometimes it’s fun to improve on tradition. Try it!
For instructions on how to marble a cake, click here.
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Marble Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup dry instant vanilla pudding mix (about one small 3.4 oz package)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- 3/4 cup milk, room temperature
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup very hot water
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the cake flour, vanilla pudding mix (in dry powdered form), baking powder, and salt.
- In a larger mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip together the butter, sugar, eggs and almond extract for a few minutes till the mixture turns light yellow.
- Beat in half of the milk and half of the sifted flour mixture, then beat in the remaining milk and flour mixture. Whip until the batter is smooth and creamy and be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Rinse and dry the medium mixing bowl that you used for the sifted flour; you’ll need it again soon. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and 1/3 cup of very hot water till smooth.
- Pour a little less than half of the cake batter into the medium mixing bowl that you rinsed out. Whisk in the cocoa powder/water mixture till fully combined and smooth. This is your chocolate marbling batter.Reserve the rest of the batter—this is your light cake marbling batter.
- Generously grease your loaf pan using butter or cooking spray. Pour the light and dark cake batters into your loaf pan and marble them. If you don't know how, check out this post with printable instructions: How to Marble a Cake
- Bake the marble cake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes.
- Carefully remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on the rack.This cake will keep at room temperature for 3-4 days; wrap in plastic wrap or foil to seal in the moisture.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
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Linda Bagby says
I am trying this recipe for my mothers birthday. I was hoping to layer and add a filling in between. Is this something you’d recommend? I am excited to try this either way because of the outstanding reviews & the wonderful & unintimidating way you put together this recipe.
Thank you,
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Linda, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. This cake is wonderful as is, but I think adding a layer of filling would be lovely.
Linda Bagby says
Thank you Ashley. This will be my first cake from scratch and I have never made a filling. Do you have any suggestions?
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Linda, I think a jam filling would be nice, maybe strawberry or raspberry. A simple chocolate or white chocolate frosting would also work well. Or both if you’re feeling extra indulgent! 🙂
Dee says
Cake was a success and my family love it! Your detailed instructions was so helpful! I was wondering if Nutella could be added to the batter? I’m thinking of whipping something with it since Thanksgiving is in a couple of days.
Susan says
Love it! Several months ago I made a marble cake from a popular cookbook that required expensive white chocolate and bittersweet chocolate. While it was very good, this cake is at least as good, and apart from the instant pudding, I had all the ingredients on hand. This is much appreciated, as most of us do not wish to purchase unusual or costly ingredients, for a recipe we may not make again. This cake I will make again.
Saulai Cheung says
Hi, I made this cake today and I like it, though i have questions about creaming the butter.
I creamed the butter with the sugar first and then added the egg one at a time, but the egg just can’t be incorporated into the butter mixture. It turns out to be more like beaten eggs with curds. I still used it and baked the cake and it turns out good… but a the middle is a bit crumbly. What should I have done differently?
I also used only 1/4 cup of brown sugar only. Would that have caused the failures to incorporate the eggs?
I’m not very experienced in baking so I bet there’s something about the technique that I have missed. Would love to hear from you as I still love the cake and will like to make it again in future for friends and special occasions.
Thanks!
Saulai
Tori Avey says
Hello Saulai! First of all, was your butter at room temperature? It sounds like it might have been slightly cold which can make it difficult to incorporate. Also, brown sugar doesn’t mix as smoothly as plain white granulated sugar. You also decreased the sugar by quite a bit; I haven’t ever tested this recipe with so little sugar, and it might be causing the texture issue, hard to say. Those would be my suggestions for next time.
Laura says
It was the first time I’ve made a marble cake, and it turned out splendid. I made it for a friend’s birthday, so it was a layered cake plus supplemental cupcakes. He doesn’t like almond flavoring, so I added vanilla instead.
For the two 8-inch layers and 24 cupcakes, I tripled the batch. The cupcakes took at least a solid 15 minutes, and the cake layers took about the same time the recipe said to give.
I used butter cream frosting with vanilla. They’re also great unfrosted. 🙂
Susan Imker says
Easily one of the best cakes I’ve ever made. I made a buttercream frosting to go with it, but we found it to be much better unadorned. Thank you so much for this absolutely fabulous recipe!
snyder says
Really great recipe, the best marble cake i’ve ever made, really moist and just the best.
Pessie says
Yum. Even my very picky husband loved it.
Terry says
Would you just double all the ingredients if you wanted to make a layer cake with this recipe?
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Terry, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. We don’t often advice doubling recipes for baking because they don’t always convert well. For best results I think you’d need to keep the ingredients separate and make two cakes.
Carrie says
This was SUCH a great recipe. The pudding added an awesome amount of moisture to the cake and the marbling tutorial was very helpful. I am making this for a retirement party – the guest of honor requested marble cake. She is a very good friend of mine, so it’s important to me that it turns out well. This cake definitely fits the bill. Thanks for sharing!!
Pessie says
I have been baking for 40 years and this is now my go to recipe for marble cake. It is moist and delicious. Have baked it in several different pan sizes and types and adjust accordingly.
Sarah says
What are your suggestions for 9×13?
Ari says
Hi, I can’t wait to try this! How do you suggest adjusting for high altitude? (I live in Colorado)
Tori Avey says
Hi Ari, unfortunately I have never lived at altitude so I don’t know how to adjust baking recipes for that. You can Google “baking recipes at altitude” for more general instructions on cakes, etc.
Connie says
Use a little less baking powder, maybe 1/2 tsp less. I know this sounds like the opposite of what you should do but you don’t want it to rise to much and then fall. ( I bake in high altitudes all the time)
Bridgid Garcia says
I’m excited to try this recipe! Does it make enough batter to use a 9 inch round cake pan, instead of loaf pan? Thanks!
Anne says
I made this and I am disappointed by how dense this cake is!
Tori Avey says
Sorry to hear that Anne! This cake should be quite tender and sponge-like, not dense. I wonder what went wrong for you?
Thelecia says
I have made this cake several times and it is spongey and light! Awesome recipe! Everyone loves it. Anne, maybe your issue might be the type of flour used?? Just a guess though.
naz says
Hi, I was wondering if can we do this without the pudding mix? Thanks,
Tori Avey says
I definitely don’t recommend that. The pudding mix is integral to this particular recipe.
N says
Great recipe! I really like the mild almond flavor. Thanks
Ilovemarble says
My go-to marble cake. Moist and easy to make.
Angel says
My twins wanted a Star Wars/marble themed birthday party, so I looked online for a good marble cake recipe and made marble planet spheres that came out fantastic! I doubled the recipe and used only 2 cups sugar (half brown sugar) and only one pudding box. I baked for the minimum time divided between oven proof bowls–came out great!
Joanna Newman says
I will be making a 4 tiered wedding cake. The bride wants a marbled cake. Is there a way to “dense*up” this marble cake recipe that will not spoil the taste and most importantly the moistness? On the strength of such great reviews I am looking forward to making this cake as shown, but it would be so great to be able to modify the recipe to endure the weight of the tiers as all wedding cakes need.
Gina says
Looks delicious. If I want to make this parve what would you recommend I substitute as the best choice: almond milk or another kind of milk (e.g. soy, cashew, coconut)?
And instead of butter, would you recommend margarine or coconut oil?
Hanna says
I see the same question I have but no reply. I would like to make this cake parve. Can I substitute margarine for butter? What kind of parve milk can I substitute? Thank you. Looks delicious. Love your site
Jodi Gross says
I didn’t try it yet, but I too want to know how to make this parve and very tasty. Do you have suggestions as to which margarine is the most buttery tasting and what kind of milk? Gina has the right questions! Would you please answer these questions. Thanx. Jodi G.
Tori Avey says
I have never tried to make this cake pareve so I can’t promise it will turn out right, but if I were to try it I would use Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks in place of butter and almond milk in place of almond. Again, no promises! In theory it should work, but it really depends most on the consistency of the pudding. Let us know if you try it and how it works for you. 🙂
Judith says
Just tried it with margarine and soya milk. The batter seems drippy but I will let you know how it comes out.
Samantha W says
Would I be able to make this in a 9×13 or would I have to double it to do that? I want to make this a birthday cake so I don’t think a loaf pan with work for that
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Samantha, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. The batter for the loaf pan is enough to fill an 8 or 9 inch square pan, so for a 9×13 you’d need more batter. Doubling might be too much, so you may have some batter leftover.