Marmorkuchen (Marble Cake)

Marble Cake was one of my favorite cakes from my mother's baking itinerary and it’s a simple reason:  there is chocolate in it and I am a “chocoholic!”  The cake is somewhat dense but tasty throughout with a wonderful texture.  Folding in the flour can be tedious but keep at it; the results are worth it!

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

5 egg yolks

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons baking powder

5 egg whites

2 tablespoons sweet cocoa

Making the Batter

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.

2.      In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in egg yolks. Continue beating for 10 minutes.

3.      Gradually stir in flour, alternating with splashes of milk, until all of the flour and milk are mixed in. The batter will get stiff as the flour is continually added. 

4.      Stir in baking powder.

5.      In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until frothy but not too stiff.  Fold egg whites into batter.

6.      Reserve 1/4 of the batter, and pour the rest into the tube pan.

7.      Mix cocoa into the remaining 1/4 of the batter. Then distribute evenly over the batter already in the tube pan, and fold under with a fork to produce a marbled appearance.

8.      Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

This tube pan had a flat bottom, so I turned it back over for a better presentation

Uh Oh!  Someone has already been at it!

German Marble Fact!

The Marble Palace or Marmorpalais was a royal residence in Potsdam, which is near Berlin.  The palace was built in the late 18^th century for the exclusive use of Frederick William II, King of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, and got its name for the extensive use of Silesian Marble throughout.  William, the last German Crown Prince and eldest son of Emperor William II, was born at the Marble Palace in 1882 and lived there with his spouse until they moved to another palace in 1917.  

After the end of the Hohenzollern monarchy, the palace and other royal residences were turned over to the Prussian Palaces Administration.  It then opened as a palace museum in 1932.  Significantly damaged during World War II, the Marble Palace became a military museum of the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s.  By 1984, the building had fallen into disrepair but has now been largely restored!