Chocolate Marble Quick Bread

This chocolate marble pound cake was new for me to try for my Christmas baking this year. When I test a new recipe for the first time, I always follow it as written just to see how it comes out and what, if anything needs to be changed.

The batter was delicious,(I always give a quick taste, you never know..). However, the cake fell in the center. But because I thought it really had potential, I decided to try again. I double checked all the things that I know can affect a cake such as: humidity, too much liquid, overbeating after the flour is added, temperature of oven is accurate or baking soda/powder not expired.

I added a little more sugar and some espresso powder just to up the flavor a bit and crossed my fingers as it went in the oven. So the second time was the charm! I’m not sure why it worked the second time, must have been the stars aligned perfectly 😉 Sometimes, that is how I feel with baking, anyone else?

The ingredients are:

• Flour
• Baking soda/salt
• Unsalted butter, softened
• Sugar
• Eggs, room temperature
• Whole milk
• Vanilla
• Unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• Espresso powder
• Hot water (to mix w/cocoa)

I swirled the pound cake horizontally and vertically to create a pretty marble design. I also used a new lighter colored loaf pan as it helps prevent the cake from browning too much.

It came out great! It was not too dense or crumbly, was moist and had a nice blend of vanilla and chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Marble Quick Bread

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• Author: Deb
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hr. 15 minutes
• Yield: 8 – 10 1x

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Description

This chocolate marble pound cake is a beautiful blend of vanilla and chocolate that bakes up with a tender crumb.  Perfect for afternoon coffee break and lovely to serve to company.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4   cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons hot water
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.   Butter and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.  
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter for about 3 minutes, until lighter in color. Add the sugar and continue beating on high speed until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes more.
4. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, After each egg, beat for 2-3 minutes until combined and slightly thickened.
5. Add half of the flour to the batter and mix on low speed until combined, but do not over mix.
6. Beat in the milk and then the remainder of flour to the batter. Mix together until combined.  It will be a thick batter.
7. Stir together  the hot water, cocoa and espresso.  Mix a little more than half of the batter (approx. 2 cups) with the chocolate.
8. Drop 1/4 cup sized scoops of alternating vanilla and chocolate batters into the prepared pan.
9. Using a thin knife, swirl a S shape horizontally and then swirl a S vertically as well.
10. Tap pan lightly on counter to remove any air bubbles and to settle the batter.
11. Bake for 1 hour on middle rack of oven, testing at 55 minutes.
12. Cake will be done when toothpick inserted comes out clean.
13. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely.

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Notes

* The espresso was added just to boost the chocolate flavor.  I used only 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder since I do not like coffee or mocha flavors.  My husband, who loves coffee, said the cake would have been even better with 1/2 teaspoon.  So you can choose your strength.

** The original recipe was on the Munaty Cooking website.

• Category: Cakes
• Method: Baking

Keywords: Chocolate marble pound cake