German Marble Cake (Marmorkuchen)

Marmorkuchen - a classic, traditional German cake that has delighted people for decades. A light, moist, fluffy treat with vanilla and chocolate flavors. This cake is so popular that it makes childhood memories come alive.

Old-fashioned Marmorkuchen. A marble cake just like Oma made it.

What is German Marble Cake?

Marble cake is a traditional German pound cake made from a simple sponge dough. In German, this cake is called "Marmorkuchen" - the literal translation is marble cake.

It is called marble cake, due to its streaked or mottled patterned dough, which resembles marble. According to the German Baking Guide Book, marble cake should consist of around a third of cocoa-flavoured sponge dough.

Marmorkuchen History

Multi-colored cakes have been noted since the beginning of the 17th century. An old Viennese cookbook discussed the "Torte Marmoree" a cake with marbled dough made with four colors. To create the different colours, herbs, spices, and plants were used.

The first marble cake recipe in English appeared in the 19th century, probably imported by German settlers (Source Marmorkuchen Wikipedia).

How to make Marmorkuchen

Jump down to the printable recipe card for exact measurements. I made this cake in a gugelhupf pan, but you can use a loaf form or a bundt pan instead.

The cake pan

9 inch /22 cm fluted cake pan

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Ingredients:

• flour (Germany 405, UK plain flour, USA pastry flour)
• baking powder (affiliate link)
• sugar
• vanilla sugar (or use 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (affiliate link))
• 4 eggs (medium size, at room temperature)
• butter (softened at room temperature)
• whipping cream, heavy cream - to make the cake nice and moist
• unsweetened cocoa (affiliate link) powder

Recipe Steps

Prepare: Preheat your oven to 180 °C / 356°F top to bottom heat. Grease a Gugelhupf form, a cake ring, or a loaf form with butter, and dust with a little flour or breadcrumbs to prevent the dough from sticking.

Make the batter: In a large bowl, using a stand or hand mixer, whisk the sugar, vanilla extract (affiliate link), and butter until creamy. Add the eggs one by one. Lastly pour in the cream. Sieve the flour, salt, baking powder (affiliate link) into the mixture (Sieving the flour will make the cake more fluffy). Do not mix too much after adding the flour, as this will activate the gluten and may end up making the cake too dry.

Create the marble pattern: Add the cocoa powder and cream to the light dough and mix, until the batter is colored brown. Now you pour the brown batter onto the light one. Using a fork, pull it through the cake in spiral motions to achieve the marble effect.

Bake the Cake: Bake the cake for about 45-60 minutes. The exact baking time depends on your oven. I would recommend you start testing early on if the cake is done by placing a skewer in the middle. If it comes out clean it is done. Overbaking is one of the worst culprits of a dry marble cake. Leave to cool at room temperature.

Decorate the marble cake. Dusting it with icing sugar, before serving, is a simple and effective way, also it is not as sweet as the second option. The second popular option is to glaze your marble cake with a chocolate glaze. I like to use dark chocolate for a super cocoa experience. You can also mix the dark chocolate glaze with a little white chocolate to create another marble effect.

Recipe Variations

Here are some suggestions on how to change this recipe

• Instead of coloring the dough with cocoa powder, you can also use 2 teaspoon Nutella or chocolate spread.
• Add extra flavor to the cake, by adding a teaspoon of rum or red wine to the chocolate dough.

Techniques to marble the cake

• Place the dark dough on top of the light dough. Use a fork and mix the dough in spiral motions, while turning the cake form. (You can also use a meat fork which is longer for a more pronounced look)
• Another option is to use a knife. First, pour in the light dough, then the cocoa-coloured one on top. Using a knife make a 1 cm incision in the middle. Then sprinkle some granulated sugar into the incisions. The sugar will sink and create a pattern.
• The last option is to add the dark and light dough alternatively in little portions to the form. The first half of the vanilla batter, is then topped by the chocolate layer and then finished with another layer of vanilla batter. Then use a skewer or a cake needle and make some circular motions through the batter, to create the desired effect.