Guest Post: Zebra Cake

Today, we are honoured to have the wonderful Angela, aka Momzilla, join us for some baking fun. Angela is a writer and a mother, with all that that entails :o) She also maintains the fantastic blog, The Bookshelf Muse - a muse-consult resource for any would-be writer! Read on, as Angela walks us through the creation of a fantastic Zebra Cake.

The other day I was trolling the internet for a show stopper dessert that didn’t require a massive effort.  When I tripped upon the Zebra Cake recipe, I knew I had found exactly what I needed.

This cake is deceptively easy to prepare. Once you get the hang of layering the chocolate and white batters, you’ll finish in no time at all, and end up with a cake that everyone will want to know how you made.

INGREDIENTS

4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tb vanilla
1 Tb baking powder
1 square (1oz) of Baker’s unsweetened chocolate *note you can also use a dark, unsweetened cocoa powder, 2-3 Tbs should do it

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using an electric mixer or whisk, beat until creamy and light in color. Add milk, vanilla, butter and oil, and continue beating until well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Do not overbeat or air pockets will form in the batter.

At this point, separate the batter evenly into two bowls. In one, add the chocolate and stir just until mixed. The batter should not be thick and puffy nor too watery. If after adding the chocolate, one of the batters appears thicker than the other, a small amount of milk or flour (as needed) should even things out. Take a round spring form pan, two tablespoons and get ready to make magic.

 You can start with either colored batter. The trick is to drizzle 2 heaping Tablespoonfuls in the center of the pan, always placing the batter on top of each other. You don’t need to shake or tilt the pan to get the batter to spread as it will slowly do this on its own.

By the time you finish both batters, you will end up with something that looks like a bull’s eye! Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (use a toothpick to judge doneness as ovens differ!) then let it sit for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. 

Cool completely, and serve with some sweetened whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle!

Tips:

--If you don’t want to mess around with spoons, pour batters into Ziploc bags and dispense evenly.

--Try adding a flavoring to the white batter and the whipped cream. I used 1/3 cup of Baileys in mine and then compensated by adding a bit of flour and YUM. Ditto with the whipped cream…a little Caramel Baileys really gave the cake zing.