Marble cake
A marble cake is a cake with a streaked or mottled appearance (like marble) achieved by very lightly blending light and dark batter.[1] It can be a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, in which case it is mainly vanilla, with streaks of chocolate. Other possibilities are strawberry or other fruit flavors, or (particularly in marbled coffee cakes) cinnamon or other spices.
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Type | Cake |
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Place of origin | Germany |
Main ingredients | Light and dark batter |
The first print references to marble cake begin appearing in the last quarter of the 19th century. One popular variation of this recipe during Victorian times was “Harlequin cake,”[1] which was baked with checkerboard patterns. Early recipes used molasses and spices to achieve the dark-colored batter.[2]
The world's largest marble cake was made for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, for an episode on Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.[3] It was 600 square feet (56 m2) and featured an edible image of Berdimuhamedow falling off a horse, with a marble-textured frame and red trimmings. According to Oliver, Guinness World Records, which was criticized in the episode for its relations with authoritarian regimes, refused to certify the record unless the show signed a contract prohibiting it from criticizing the company. The cake was presented on 11 August 2019 and shared with the show's audience, with the remains having gone to City Harvest.[4][5]
References
- Olver, Lynne (23 January 2015). "Marble cake". The Food Timeline. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor (Oxford University Press: New York) 2004 [2007], Volume 1 (p. 162)
- Oliver, John (12 August 2019). "Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)". YouTube. LastWeekTonight. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- "Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow". Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Season 06. Episode 20. 2019-08-11. HBO.
- "John Oliver Bakes Very Large Cake to Annoy Turkmenistan". Retrieved 2020-04-07.
External links
- Sax, Richard (2000). "Lemon-Molasses Marble Cake". Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 340. ISBN 0-618-00391-6. OCLC 43721945. Retrieved 28 April 2009.