Marble Velvet Cake

This is my second Heavenly Cake Bakers Free Cake Week submission, because yes, I am a little crazy. It all started out like this: I wrote the Pistachio Cake (Free Cake #1) post last week (it published yesterday), and at the end I counted out how many cakes Marie has baked thus far, how many the HCB have baked thus far, and then how many I have baked. And I was ten cakes short of the HCB, who are 21 cakes short of Marie! This left me all worried about all the cakes that I wouldn't get to with the HCB, and would I ever do them if there wasn't a deadline to get them done? So after Marie posted the Last Cake, Next Cake post for the Golden Financiers (in which she listed the 21 cakes she baked before the group started), I really got to thinking about all the cakes I haven't baked yet, and how maybe I should do a second free cake since the Pistachio Cake is long gone, and how I didn't want to get left behind in this cake baking thing. Then Joelf called to let me know his family was indeed blowing through town for a night and that really got me thinking that if I did bake another cake I could give them a large chunk of it to take with them, and they were going to see Char's family so I could give Joelf a chunk of cake to give to the Kammers, and the Jellos are looking after their nephews and niece this weekend and I could pass a chunk on to them, and once I realised I wasn't going to be stuck eating a whole delicious cake myself IT WAS ON. I baked another cake.

September 11, 2010
Name of Cake: Marble OMG THIS IS SO GOOD Velvet Cake
Occasion: HCB, and I won't be stuck with the whole cake!
Constituents: One thick, rich, delicious sour cream bundt cake

This is certainly a quick and easy cake. Prepping the ingredients took maybe 20 minutes, and mixing the cake took just about two. Baking took an hour but all that required of me was putting the cake in the oven and wandering off, so hardly worth mentioning.

Rose really goes to town with this sour cream bundt, as the batter uses only egg yolks (six to seven of them!), a cup of sour cream, and a little over two sticks of butter. That, my friends, is a lot of fat. It makes this cake dense, rich, and truly velvety. She wasn't just using pretty words when she named this a Velvet Cake.

Most marble cakes I have had are poor excuses for a marble cake; the brown parts that were supposed to be chocolate batter were just brown parts with no chocolate taste. Not so with this cake. The chocolate batter had a delicious flavor that made me wish there was more of it--maybe next time I'll do a chocolate cake with yellow marbling. The chocolate batter is simply melted 60% chocolate incorporated into 1/3 of the yellow cake batter.

The marbling technique is pretty simple. About a third of the yellow batter is plopped down into the bundt pan, then about a half of the chocolate batter is spooned on top. Don't worry--this batter is so thick the chocolate won't be running into and messing up the yellow. Another third of the yellow batter is laid down on top of the chocolate, then the remaining chocolate and the remaining yellow.

My bundt pan is really pointy at the top, so I couldn't really fit 1/2 of the chocolate batter up in there without creating a thick layer that would look more like a big chocolate stripe (which isn't a bad idea, come to think of it). So I used about 1/4 of the chocolate, closer to half of what was left for the second chocolate layer, then did a third chocolate layer over the last yellow layer to use up all the chocolate batter.

A regular tablespoon (not a measuring spoon) is plunged into the unbaked cake and rolled over itself ("like a wave," Rose says) six or seven times through the batter to create the marbling. That part was fun and I would have liked to do it ten to fifteen times but that would create a big messy looking cake.

The cake is then baked for almost an hour, which I used to start and frog (rip out) a knitting project a couple of times. Sigh.

My cake had risen a bit past the rim of the pan at the end of its bake, and didn't shrink upon cooling. I turned the cake out with no problems except that a little corner of the cake broke off and, bummer, I had to eat it. It was SO GOOD.

I skipped the ganache glaze even thought Marie loved it, mostly because the cake wasn't cool enough to support it by the time Joelf and his brother came over. Joelf's brother Allie (the baker of the family) was very much taken with the cake. As were we all. It was so moist and rich, tender and melt-in-your-mouth. All the sour cream-vanilla goodness with a little chocolate thrown in. The cake was a little dense, but only in the best kind of way.

I sent them on their way with a good 3/4 of the cake, which I was a little sad about but mostly thankful. If this cake was left with me I would be eating it all day. I can't wait to make it again.

all i have left

Here's a link to Marie's Marble Velvet Cake post. This was her first time using the beater blade, and it gave her "hope for this country yet." Plus, she has great process photos which in my velvety cake making rapture I totally forgot to take. What can I say, I was too busy licking my fingers and the spoons and bowls and etc.

Bonus!
Every time I hear the word "marble" I think of "marble columns." Behold: