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.

Matcha Marble Cake

Late last week I spent hours in bed feverishly battling with what I think was a 24-hour bug possibly afflicted upon me when I was (briefly) caring for my baby nephew. I hate to think someone as adorable as him could be harbouring such nasties in his cute little body but his mum assured me it was possible for she too has fallen ill from whatever the poor little guy is still suffering from.

Of course feeling under the weather affords you time in bed, spent by either sleeping the illness off or hungrily (and I do mean it in all literal sense) leafing through volumes of your favourite books looking for a prospective baking project. So after indulging in the latter and tagging a few exciting recipes I would likely try, I decided on making something completely ordinary instead. A marble cake. Simple, tried, tested and often delicious.

You understand that there are very few things in life that brings us comfort when we are ill, feeling a little half empty or sorry for ourselves. For me, a warm beverage (preferably made by somebody else) like a cup of tea (strong and with a splash of milk, no sugar) or coffee (1 part coffee, 2 parts soy, no sugar) accompanied by something like a slice of cake (something chocolatey but nothing fancy please) or a biscuit usually helps but it depends largely on how lousy I feel to begin with but I digress...

There is little anyone can or will object to when it comes to how perfectly swirls of bittersweet chocolate and aromatic vanilla blend into a moist buttery cake so the thought of adding another flavour was almost too wrong - afterall, why fix something that isn't broken, right? I succumbed to the great temptation nevertheless and decided to use some matcha (which is now officially amongst one of my favourite flavouring agents) recently procured at quite a dear price.

I think this "bold" step I decided to take was well worth it even if just for the aesthetics of the cake alone. I mean, wouldn't you agree the jade green, intense chocolate and creamy yellow colours really look good together? Of course, the smokey, grassy flavour of matcha pairs so well with chocolate too so although this cake lacked the perfect texture (I found it slightly crumbly), it did provide me the perfect comforting I was after.

MATCHA MARBLE CAKE

dry

340g flour

1tbs + 1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

wet

120g butter

250g sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

200g sour cream

80ml full cream milk

flavouring

60g dark chocolate (at least 55%)

1tsp matcha powder

(makes a 20cm loaf)

pre-heat oven to 180C and adjust the rack to the center of the oven. Spray and line tin with baking paper.
sift dry ingredients onto a sheet of paper and set aside.

melt dark chocolate in double boiler or in a microwave oven, stirring occassionally until the chocolate melts taking care not to burn it.

cream butter and sugar using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer until soft and creamy. Add eggs one at a time making sure each egg is well incorporated and scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the next. Add sour cream and vanilla.

fold the sifted dry ingredients and milk in thirds, alternating dry and wet ingredients taking care not to overmix.

divide batter equally between 3 bowls. Add cooled melted chocolate to one and stir to combine. Add matcha powder to another bowl.

fill the prepared tin with alternating spoonfuls of each batter. Using the tip of a knife, make 3 figure eights to create the marbling effect.

bake for 60-90 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean. Let cake cool in the tin on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the tin. Wrap the cake with cling film while it's still slightly warm.