Hello Mr. Zebra - A cream cheese marble cake

Visually appealing, this cake is perfect for those who cannot decide between making a cheese cake and a pound cake. It would be misleading to call it a pound cake because it does not follow the mass ratio of a true pound cake, nor is it made by the usual creaming method. This cake is simply a hybrid of 3 recipes: Japanese cotton cheesecake, cream cheese pound cake and Jaffa cake.

This recipe highlights the salty dairyness of cream cheese in a cake which holds its pleasing moist crumb for a few days after it has been baked. It is difficult to describe its texture as it possesses neither a cloying nor the melt-in-your-mouth quality of a cheesecake. It is neither crumbly nor fluffy. I can only liken its texture to that of a rich and heavy genoise because I think it is essentially just that.

I think this would make the perfect kid's party cake, all that is lacking is a generous slathering of good chocolate frosting and a few obligatory crunchy and colourful sugar adornments kids adore. Their parent's might even indulge and enjoy a slice or two.

cream cheese marble cake

250g cream cheese (full fat please!)

50g butter

1 tsp vanilla paste/extract

100ml milk (full fat again, please!)

6 large eggs, separated

200g caster sugar

(NB this cake is not overly sweet, you can increase the quantity of sugar to 300g if you wish)

200g plain flour, double sifted

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

makes 1 8-inch round cake

preheat oven to 180C

line cake tin with baking paper and set aside

gently heat milk, butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a medium saucepan

whisk until mixture is smooth and remove from heat

beat egg yolks and 100g sugar for at least 5 minutes until thick, pale and tripled in volume

whisk egg whites in a separate bowl adding remaining 100g sugar gradually to achieve a shiny meringue that will hold its shape

fold the egg yolk mixture into the cheese mixture gently

sift flour into this mixture and mix well without knocking too much air out

stir 1/3 of the meringue into the mixture to lighten in slightly

fold remaining meringue into the mixture

divide mixture into half

sift cocoa powder into half of the mixture. (NB you may need to add 1-2 tablespoon of milk to adjust the consistency of the batter so it is similar to the vanilla flavoured half)

pour batter in an alternate fashion into the prepared cake tin

bake for 15 minutes at 180C then reduce temperature to 160C and bake for a further 40 minutes or until cake is ready.