12 things: bake cakes

How's this for a cake decorating idea?

Some ideas are so awesome it actually gives me the shivers. This was one such example.

I first saw this doily stenciling post here and was so, so excited to try it. So off to the op shop I went in search of a doily and other thrifted things. And then proceeded to bake a chocolate and vanilla marble cake and voila! It worked. Yes, it could have been much neater, especially around the edges but overall I was pretty pleased with the results.

The cake itself tasted pretty awesome too. Marble cake seems to be a little bit of an old school treat; I don't see it very often anymore. But sometimes old school is the best school.

Chocolate marble cake

Ingredients

• 225g butter , softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs 
• 225g self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
2. Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up, tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.
3. Bake the cake for 45-55 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. If you want to try the doily stencil exercise, make sure the cake is completely cool first.

Note: I tend to get too carried away with the swirling so the marbling effect wasn't very obvious on this cake. But this photo from my previous attempt probably illustrates the marbling just a little bit more.