Marble Loaf Cake
- Rahul Mandal
- Sep 12, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 14, 2025
You like vanilla? You like chocolate? Why not have both!? I love how visually appealing a marble cake is – the way your random swirling and the magical science of baking create something so uniquely beautiful. So simple but so elegant and, dare I say, sophisticated? And as for the flavours…? Mmmm, totally delicious. Especially with a rich chocolate glaze. Definitely a top teatime treat!
Ingredients
For the loaf
110g caster sugar
110g soft salted butter (you can use unsalted butter, but add a big pinch of salt) (plus 10g extra to pipe a line)
2 medium free-range eggs
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
75g self-raising flour (55g + 20g)
40g coco powder
1tbsp whole milk
For syrup
50g caster sugar
50g water
1tsp vanilla bean paste
Glaze
75g double cream
50g dark chocolate
1tbsp honey
Serves: 8 to 10
Preparation time: 10-15 mins
Baking time: 50 to 55 mins
Method
Preheat the oven to 160oC fan. Line a 1lb loaf tin with butter and baking paper.
Cream the butter with the sugar – you can just use a ballon whisk. Then add eggs followed by vanilla bean paste and whisk. Divide the batter into two bowls.
In the first bowl fold in 55g of flour. This is the vanilla batter. In the second bowl, sift in 20g flour and coco powder. Fold the flour and coco powder carefully to the batter. If the batter is too thick, add a tbsp of cream or milk to loosen it slightly. This is the chocolate batter
Spoon dollops of chocolate and vanilla batter alternatively into the baking tin. Use a skewer to run through twice in the batter to give the marbling effect. Pipe a line of butter on top. This will encourage the cake to have the characteristic crack.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50mins. Once baked, take the loaf out of the oven and let it cool a little.
To make the syrup, warm all the syrup ingredients and bring it to a boil. Take it off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then, pour the warm syrup all over the warm sponge. Let it soak for few hours for best results. Then chill the cake if you want it to be glazed.
You can glaze the cake with a chocolate glaze. To make the glaze, in a saucepan heat cream till it is just about to boil. Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Pour warm cream on top of the chocolate and cover for few mins. After that, remove the cover, add honey and whisk to get a shiny glaze. Once the cake is chilled, slowly pour the glaze on top of the cake. Transfer it to the fridge, to set the glaze if necessary. Enjoy with your family and friends.