The inspiration for this recipe for chocolate and vanilla vegan marble cake was a lovely-looking marble cake in chef Eric Lanlard’s book Chocolat.
This recipe, which will make one large loaf (or twelve muffins, if you prefer), bears practically no relation to Eric Lanlard’s recipe except that the finished loaf looks very similar. It’s vegan, for a start (the other version contains no fewer than five eggs!). It also uses oil and cocoa powder rather than butter and chocolate, and has a ‘secret’ ingredient in the form of custard powder.
It’s sweetened with a mixture of sugar and maple syrup. This is not a cake with many health claims, except perhaps for the very low level of saturated fat. It is delicious, though.
Chocolate and vanilla are an obvious combination, but the custard power, along with a large slug of vanilla extract, a little cinnamon and a pinch of salt give quite a depth of flavour to what is really a very simple cake.
Vegan Marble Cake…
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- good pinch (perhaps 1/16 tsp) salt
- 160 g white or golden sugar
- 75 ml maple syrup
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 4 tbsp (Birds or similar) custard powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 110 ml light olive (or other mild-tasting) oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Method
- Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and line a standard loaf tin (or twelve muffin tin).
- Set a good-sized bowl on the scales, and sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl, followed by the sugar and salt. Make a note of the weight of this mixture.
- Remove the bowl from the scales and whisk the dry ingredients again to ensure the sugar is evenly distributed.
- Place a second bowl on the scales and transfer half of the dry ingredients from the first bowl (ie, half the total weight) into the second bowl.
- Whisk the cocoa powder and cinnamon into one of the bowls, and whisk the custard powder into the other.
- Pour the oil and maple syrup into a measuring jug and whisk in the vanilla, apple cider vinegar, along with 300 ml of water. Check the total number of mls. Whisk it thoroughly, to ensure there is no separation of oil and water, before pouring half of the liquid into each of the bowls of dry ingredients. (You could also measure half of the liquids separately into two small bowls – either way it’s a bit of a fiddle but essential for this recipe.)
- Stir each of the mixtures lightly until they are well-combined.
- If you’re making a loaf cake, alternately spoon three or four tablespoons of chocolate and vanilla mixture into the tin to create rough layers, and then draw a thin knife or skewer through the mixture a couple of times. Bake for at least an hour, checking the centre with a skewer to ensure it’s cooked through.
- If you’re making muffins, place alternate dessert-spoonfuls of chocolate and vanilla mixture into the muffin cases until they are perhaps three-quarters full. Bake for around twenty minutes.
- Both loaf and muffins are best left to cool completely.
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