MARBLE MAGIC

Lee Ling came over to my place for dinner last evening. Since it would be her belated birthday celebration I made a cake.  

MOCHA O'MARBLE CAKE 

Adapted from Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Flo Braker

Makes one 9-inch Bundt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 tablespoon hot water

3/4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

260 grams all-purpose flour

130 grams cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

225 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

300 grams caster sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup whole milk

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C and place a rack in the centre. Lightly butter and flour a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In a small bowl, stir espresso powder with hot water until dissolved. Stir mixture into chocolate syrup; set aside. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy and smooth then add sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.

Add eggs very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and pale ivory in colour. Add flour mixture in 3 - 4 additions alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing after each addition only until incorporated.

Transfer 2/3 of the batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.

Stir baking soda into chocolate syrup-espresso mixture, then add mixture to the remaining batter in bowl. Without delay, pour chocolate batter on top of batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out free of batter, 65 – 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan.

Ms Braker tells us (in page 88 of her book) that the heavier chocolate batter will "flip positions with its lighter counterpart" while in the oven thus forming the marbling inside the cake. This is not true. Nevertheless, it's delicious!

I also made a cold soba salad and Lee Ling's favourite comfort food - the Shepherd's Pie. Thanks, Lee Ling, for being a willing guinea pig!  I wish you many happy returns.  Love ya!