Soft, fluffy, moist marble cake, made with vanilla and chocolate cake swirled together. This cake is easy to make with my step-by-step instructions, and is frosted with my favorite silky chocolate buttercream frosting.
It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend here, complete with plenty of baking fails (which you’ve seen if you’ve been following my Instagram stories… yikes, did you see that scary looking lemon loaf!?), and some exciting new things as well, but for now let’s talk cake.
Specifically this completely from scratch, very easy to make, vanilla and chocolate marble cake. It took a few tries to get right, but here we are and I am really excited to share the recipe with you today.
I’ve been wanting to make a marble cake for a while, but it required a really good vanilla cake recipe as its base. If you remember from my recent pineapple upside down cake recipe, I finally developed a vanilla cake recipe that worked perfectly for my upside down cake, but when I tried it in this marble cake I was a little disappointed that it came out drier than I’d hoped… the extra butter, brown sugar, and fruit juice in the original recipe made it perfect for that one, but some tweaks were definitely in order for a nice, moist marble cake.
In the end, a simple switch from regular milk to buttermilk worked perfectly, but it’s also very important to not over-mix the batter, and definitely to not over-bake your cakes!
I always use the toothpick test to check if my baked goods are done — for cakes that means looking for moist crumbs — you do not want the toothpick to come out completely dry or it’s already overdone, so watch it carefully!
The chocolate portion of the cake is very easy to make. I’d toyed with the idea of making two entirely separate batters at first, and then combining them, but ultimately decided that it would be way easier if I could just take a vanilla cake batter and make half of it chocolate.
Adding cocoa powder didn’t give me the true chocolate flavor that I was looking for, unfortunately (that’s because we weren’t adding any hot water or hot cocoa to bloom it, like we do in my favorite chocolate cake recipe), but adding real, melted semisweet chocolate did the trick just fine.
You’ll want to melt the chocolate first and then set it aside, stirring occasionally while you prepare your cake batter. You don’t want it to be too hot when you add it, but you also don’t want it to have re-solidified when you need it.
For the frosting, I used my favorite silky chocolate buttercream, which at this point just needs its own stand-alone post because I make it and refer to it so often. It’s that good, though, trust me.
Smooth, silky, and so chocolaty (made with real, melted chocolate and not cocoa powder — just like the chocolate part of our cake!). Unlike many buttercream frostings, it’s not overly sweet, and I could almost eat it by the spoonful. I could totally eat it by the spoonful. I had a few too many spoonfuls, honestly.
Enjoy!
Marble Cake
Ingredients
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
- 1/2 cup canola oil (120ml)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar (300g)
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (390g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk room temperature (300ml)
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (170g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (320g)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and generously grease and flour two 8" round cake pans. Set aside.
- Place chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well, and then return to microwave and heat in 15-second increments, stirring well in between, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
- Using an electric or stand mixer, cream together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 30 seconds on high speed).
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pause as needed to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. Do not overmix!
- Pour 1/3-1/2 of the batter into a separate bowl and add chocolate mixture. Stir until completely combined and batter is evenly chocolate.
- Alternate adding vanilla and chocolate batter to each pan, evenly distributing batter into each pan. Use a knife to swirl for marbled appearance.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean but with a few moist crumbs (do not over-bake or the cake will be dry, you want there to be a few crumbs).
- Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes before carefully inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips at 15 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until chips are completely melted. Set aside and allow to cool slightly (about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally).
- Cream room temperature butter with an electric mixer. Stir in slightly cooled chocolate and beat well.
- Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl occasionally.
- Sprinkle in salt and vanilla extract, stir well.
- Gradually add heavy cream, increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute.
- Spread a thick layer of frosting over the top of one cake round and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Top with second cake round and evenly frost cake. Slice and serve.
Nutrition
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Natalie says
August 3, 2019 at 11:45 pmI decided to make the cake with my friend.We made it with the chocolate frosting listed and a vanilla butter cream for the middle layer .We followed the original cake and frosting recipe to a T. For some reason it tasted nutty almost like a tort. Is this normal? It was also very dense and the outer layer was hard almost like bread. It was good just wondering if this was normal for this recipe?
Sam says
August 5, 2019 at 10:31 amHi Natalie! I’m so sorry that happened. That is so weird it tasted nutty. I wonder if one of your ingredients was possibly contaminated. If the outer layer is hard and dense it was most likely over-baked. I hope this helps. 🙂
Natalie says
August 5, 2019 at 3:09 pmWe were thinking it could have been the oven or even one of the ingredients! But thank you I may have to try it again!
Doreen Mitchell says
July 21, 2019 at 3:13 pmSam,
Thanks again for a another fabulous recipe. I made it yesterday and my husband loved it. I did add a thin layer of raspberry filling in the middle of the layers, which worked out well. Thanks again. PS – Also tried you macaroni salad this weekend – another hit! Doreen
Sam says
July 22, 2019 at 12:04 pmI love the sound of a raspberry filling! I am so glad you are enjoying everything Doreen! 🙂
Rita says
July 5, 2019 at 4:44 pmI’m trying it now, and I noticed the mix is pretty thick and dense after mixing equal parts of buttermilk and flour. Is this normal? I’m just afraid it’s supposed be smoother and more liquified. I’ve never baked a cake with such thick batter.
Sam says
July 6, 2019 at 3:06 pmI hope it turned out for you, Rita! It’s not a super thin batter but I’m not sure how thick yours was to say for sure
Sonam says
June 20, 2019 at 8:21 amHi Sam, I love your recipes.. they come out to be very good.. how can I replace eggs in this recipe?
Sam says
June 22, 2019 at 11:32 pmHi Sonam! I wish I could advise but unfortunately I am not sure how any egg substitute would work with this recipe, I am sorry! 🙁
Judy says
June 10, 2019 at 10:41 pmI’m finding the chocolate part of the cake seems drier than the white part. Any Suggestions?
Sam says
June 15, 2019 at 9:42 pmHi Judy! I know it’s necessary to mix the chocolate part more than the vanilla part, but try not to mix any more than is necessary. Over-mixing can make it come out dry. I hope that helps!
Isabel says
May 8, 2019 at 1:35 amThis sounds wonderful! But I didn’t see ow many cups of battery your recipe makes. Should I double or triple this recipe for a 3 layer, (2″ layers) cake?
Isabel says
May 8, 2019 at 1:38 amSorry for the typos, my fingers are too big for my phone. LOL
Sam says
May 8, 2019 at 3:38 pmHi Isabel! This makes a 2 layer cake, so to get a 3rd layer, you would just need to increase the batter by 50%. 🙂
Isabel says
May 8, 2019 at 4:52 pmThank you! 😊
P.s.
Not sure if I should mentioned I’m making a three layer 1/4 sheet? 🤔
Sam says
May 8, 2019 at 10:06 pmO that’s going to be a big cake! The batter as is will make about 8 cups of batter. A typical 9 x 13 holds about 10 cups of batter. So you would need to at least triple the recipe. 🙂
Isabel says
May 8, 2019 at 10:15 pmYou are awesome, thank you for your help!
Can’t wait to try it! ❤
Sam says
May 9, 2019 at 8:47 amLet me know how it goes. 🙂
Conn says
April 29, 2019 at 5:16 amI will try this marble cake
Sophie says
March 11, 2019 at 3:39 pmCan I bake the whole batter in one pan? Will it get dry?
Sam says
March 11, 2019 at 9:19 pmHi Sophie! If you have a pan big enough to hold it, it will work just fine. Baking times will vary though. 🙂
Sophie says
March 15, 2019 at 11:25 pmThis was great!! My husband requested marble cake for his birthday and it was fantastic. I cut the sugar in half for the cake batter though. It was perfectly sweet after putting the frosting. Thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Sam says
March 16, 2019 at 8:41 pmI am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Sophie! 🙂
Alex says
February 15, 2019 at 12:44 pmThis seems good and simple! I have Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips. Will that work? Thanks!
Sam says
February 15, 2019 at 10:23 pmYes that should be fine. Enjoy! 🙂
Denise says
December 6, 2018 at 12:56 pmAm I able to replace the flour with Cale flour?
Thanks!
Sam says
December 7, 2018 at 4:14 pmHi Denise, I haven’t tried this with cake flour so I’m not sure. If you try it that way would you please let me know how it turns out for you?
Karen says
June 21, 2019 at 6:56 amDid you make this cake with cake flour yet? Does cake flour give a lighter less dense cake?
Jason Miller says
November 3, 2018 at 3:59 pmHow do I make this in a 9×13 pan?
Sam says
November 3, 2018 at 4:35 pmIt would just need to bake longer, but unfortunately I do not know how long.
Haneefah says
September 30, 2018 at 10:10 pmSo I made this cake this was my first homemade cake and I’m not gonna lie I was hype mixing it up because it taste right my only issue was I feel like just maybe drop a lil less grease but it came out real nice I didn’t make the icing lol cause the cake was already sweat so I just brought some already made buttercream icing but overall thanks for the recipe kids loved it lol
Sam says
October 1, 2018 at 8:18 pmI am so glad everyone enjoyed it! Homemade always tastes better!
mars says
August 9, 2018 at 5:55 amcan i use coco powder
Sam says
August 13, 2018 at 9:58 pmI recommend using the melted chocolate for the best flavor