Marble Cake

So, Wednesday was Ryan's 14th birthday. That forced me to acknowledge today that I have to enroll him in our local high school. I really didn't want to, but, on the other hand, I don't want him to tell me I ruined his life by making him stay home forever. (True story: one of my older sons told me that I ruined his entire slementary through high school experience by making him wear pullover sweaters to first grade, and everyone made fun of him for that until he graduated from high school. After hearing enough of this - like the second repetition - I told him to stuff it. All true.)

The traditional birthday cake in our house is marble cake. Plenty of times I've used a box, but I've recently been forced to learn to make a marble cake from scratch. So here's the recipe, just in case any of you have a burning desire to make one.

MARBLE CAKE

2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick or 1/4 pound) butter, softened
3/4 cup milk
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk

Sift the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and 3/4 cup milk, and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks, 1/2 cup milk and vanilla extract, and beat 2 minutes more. Pour 2/3 of this batter into a 13"x9" baking pan. To the remaining batter, add the cocoa powder and 1 tbsp milk, and beat for a minute, until it's combined. Drop by spoonsful into the vanilla cake, and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350F for 36 to 42 minute, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

If you don't want to make the cake from scratch, just follow the directions from adding the cocoa powder on, using a yellow cake mix. No one will be the wiser.

Frost with a good buttercream frosting, and enjoy.
Oh, and save the 5 egg whites for a daffodil cake, which I will tell you about on Monday.