Chocolate Marble Tiger Cake

My mother had a well-defined repertoire of cake recipes and each one was a testimony to her attention to detail and precision. Marble cake was a regular player on her dessert roster. Egg whites were whipped into billowy, snowy peaks and folded ever so gently into the cake batter. A few tablespoons of cocoa were blended into a small portion of the batter, creating a swirled masterpiece of vanilla and chocolate. Mom’s cake was tall and majestic with a delicate crumb, but more recently, I craved a marble cake with more heft and lots of dark, fudgy, chocolate ripples.

Chocolate Marble Tiger Cake

Tiger cake, a recipe by chocolate guru Alice Medrich, published in her cookbook Seriously Bittersweet, is a self-marbling cake that can be made with extra-virgin olive oil (I used unflavored vegetable oil), and natural (Hershey’s) cocoa powder (a must!). The tiger stripe marbling happens magically all by itself while the cake is baking. All you have to do is layer the batters into the pan. This is not your mother’s marble cake. Even if the cake of memory was delicious, give this one a try. It’s simple to make and effortlessly beautiful.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 10-12 cup tube pan with baking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and water until blended.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to blend and set this mixture aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the 2 cups sugar and oil until blended. The mixture will be granular. Add the vanilla. Continue beating and add the eggs one at a time. Continue to beat on medium-high speed until the mixture becomes thick and pale (see picture 3 above), about 3-5 minutes. Stop the mixer. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended. Stop the mixer. Add 1/2 of the milk. Beat just until blended. Repeat with another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and the remaining flour. 

Add 3 cups of batter to the reserved cocoa mixture and stir until completely blended. You now have 2 batters.

Pour 1/3 of the plain batter into the prepared tube pan. Pour 1/3 of the chocolate batter over the plain batter. Repeat twice with the remaining batters. Resist the urge to marble the batters. It will happen by itself during the baking. 

Bake in a preheated oven for 60-70 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Slide a thin metal spatula or a knife around the tube and around the sides of the pan. Lift the tube and slide the spatula or knife under the bottom of the cake to detach it from the pan. Transfer the cake to a serving dish. Dust the top of the cake with confectioners’ (powdered) sugar if desired. The cake will remain fresh for several days covered with plastic wrap or under a cake dome.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Marble Tiger Cake

Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

By Alice Medrich, Seriously Bittersweet – Serves: 12

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 60-70 minutes – Total Time: 85+ minutes

Alternating swirls of vanilla and fudgy chocolate cake that marble by themselves while the cake is baking

Ingredients

• Cocoa mixture
• 1/2 cup (45 grams) natural cocoa powder (non-alkalized, non-Dutch processed, such as Hershey's)
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• Cake batter
• 3 cups (385 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (400 grams) sugar
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, or, unflavored vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs, cold
• 1 cup cold milk, dairy or plant-based
• confectioners' sugar for dusting the top of the cake after baking (optional)

Instructions

1

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 10-12 cup tube pan with baking spray.

2

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and water until blended. Reserve. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to blend and set this mixture aside.

3

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the 2 cups sugar and oil until blended. The mixture will be granular. Add the vanilla. Continue beating and add the eggs one at a time. Continue to beat on medium-high speed until the mixture becomes thick and pale, about 3-5 minutes. Stop the mixer. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended. Stop the mixer. Add 1/2 of the milk. Beat just until blended. Repeat with another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and the remaining flour. 

4

Add 3 cups of batter to the reserved cocoa mixture and stir until completely blended. You now have 2 batters.

5

Pour 1/3 of the plain batter into the prepared tube pan. Pour 1/3 of the chocolate batter over the plain batter. Repeat twice with the remaining batters. Resist the urge to marble the batters. It will happen by itself during the baking. 

6

Bake in a preheated oven for 60-70 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Slide a thin metal spatula or a knife around the tube and around the sides of the pan. Lift the tube and slide the spatula or knife under the bottom of the cake to detach it from the pan. Transfer the cake to a serving dish. Dust the top of the cake with confectioners' (powdered) sugar if desired. The cake will remain fresh for several days covered with plastic wrap or under a cake dome.

Notes

This cake freezes beautifully when well wrapped. Recipe author Alice Medrich does not recommend using Dutch process cocoa for this cake.