With beautiful, bold, black-and-white Zebra stripes, this cake is a showstopper! While making a Zebra Cake might seem like a daunting task, today I’m breaking down all of the steps to show you how to easily replicate this cake in your own kitchen (with just one base batter!). I think you’ll find it’s much simpler than you would’ve ever guessed, and I’ve even included a how-to video!
You Can Make a Beautiful Zebra Cake At Home
If today’s cake looks a little intimidating, let me just assure you that you’ve got this! If you’ve made my Funfetti cake or my marble cake (or even if you haven’t, really) you can handle a zebra cake.
It does require a few more dishes than your average one-color cake. It does require a little bit of technique as we’ll be whipping egg whites, and it does require a bit of attention to detail as you’re portioning out your batter, but it’s nothing you can’t handle, I’m certain of it.
I’ve included plenty of step-by-step photos in the post and there’s a how-to video in the recipe card as well, between the two you should have no problem making a bold, beautiful, perfectly striped zebra cake.
Reverse Creaming
We’re using the reverse creaming method here because I like the tighter crumb that it yields. It helps to make the black and white stripes of the zebra cake more pronounced. If you’ve made my caramel cake, you’ve already used this technique before.
This method was popularized by Rose Levy Beranbaum and involves combining all of your dry ingredients (plus sugar, which technically is not considered “dry”) and then gradually mixing in your butter until you end up with a sandy consistency (see photo above). Once you’ve achieved this consistency, you’ll gradually stir in the remainder of your dry ingredients and finally your egg whites.
This method is great for producing a tight, plush crumb and, as a bonus, it makes it difficult to over-mix your batter. Accidentally over-mixing cake batter is one of the biggest culprits for dense, dry cake, so I love that reverse creaming makes it a lot less likely for this to happen (until the whipped egg whites come into play, anyway, always be gentle with those!).
Whipped Egg Whites (& Tips for Stiff Peaks)
I love using whipped egg whites in my cakes because not only do they make the cake moist and fluffy, but they also help the cake maintain a pure white color.
It’s why I use them in my white cake, and since a Zebra cake ought to be black and white (not black and yellow!), it works well here, too. The egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks, which means they will have drastically increased in volume, taken on a fluffy consistency (see below) and when you pull your beaters out of them the peak that forms holds its shape and doesn’t fold over itself or dissolve.
While egg whites can be whipped to stiff peaks by hand, I don’t recommend it as it’s quite an arm workout. Use an electric mixer and make sure the beaters and the bowl are completely clean, dry, and grease free, or your eggs won’t ever reach stiff peaks, no matter how long you whisk them.
Can I Use Store-bought Egg Whites to Make Zebra Cake?
Unfortunately, many store-bought/pasteurized egg whites say right on the carton that they are not meant to be whipped. Some people have reported on my other recipes that they’ve tried with mixed results. If it’s all you have on hand, I say give it a try and see if they’ll whip for you, but I can’t guarantee that they will.
A few suggestions for your leftover egg yolks: If you don’t want to toss your egg yolks (or feed them to your dogs, like I usually do!), here are some of my favorite recipes to make with egg yolks:
- Creme Brûlée (easier than you probably think!)
- Pound Cake (you need 6 whole eggs and 6 egg yolks for this recipe, so you’re halfway there!)
- Cream Puffs
- Eclairs
- Chocolate Pie
One Batter, Two Colors
When developing this recipe, I did not want you to have to make two entirely different cake batters in order to make a Zebra cake. While it would have been nice to simply stir in some melted chocolate (like I did with my marble cake) that technique just didn’t work very well here and my chocolate stripes ended up much too dry.
Creating a moist, delicious chocolate batter out of our white one requires a bit of work. First, divide the batter by portioning 3 cups of batter into a medium-sized bowl (this is less than half of the batter). We’ll be making this smaller (3-cup) portion into our chocolate version. To do this, bloom a bit of cocoa powder by mixing it with some very hot water (doing this helps develop the chocolate flavor, it’s why I add hot water to my chocolate cake batter!). Then, because cocoa powder has a terrible habit of drying out cake, we add some more sour cream and a pinch of sugar (cocoa powder is bitter, too!) and stir this into our lesser half of batter.
The result after baking is a moist white and chocolate crumb. Because I wanted the stripes to be as dark as possible (zebras are white and black, not white and brown, after all) I used special dark cocoa, which is darker in color and usually sold in the baking aisle right next to regular cocoa. If you don’t have that on hand or can’t find it, natural cocoa powder will work instead.
Zebra Cake: It’s All About the Technique!
While it may seem like getting those beautiful black and white stripes might be impossible, the technique is surprisingly simple. After dividing your batter, Scoop about ⅓ cup of white batter into the center of your cake pan. Then, scoop slightly less chocolate batter and dollop that right in the center of your white batter. Repeat until you’ve used all of the batter.
Two important things to keep in mind when portioning zebra cake batter: For flawless stripes, it helps if one dollop/circle of white batter never touches another dollop of white batter. If it does, the cake takes on more of a marbled appearance. If your batter isn’t spreading enough for you, take a spoon and gently nudge it out, but you should not need to spread it across the whole cake pan. The batter should naturally spread a little bit from the weight of the next dollop of batter. Watching my video may be helpful before you begin.
I always start and end with the white batter, because you have slightly more of it.
Icing Options
I recommend using my white chocolate buttercream that I just shared. It’s not overly sweet and it complements the zebra cake so nicely. If you don’t care for white chocolate (I actually don’t either but love it on this cake), you could use my favorite chocolate frosting instead. Here are a few other options that would work here:
- Cream cheese frosting or chocolate cream cheese frosting
- Swiss meringue buttercream
- Buttercream frosting or chocolate buttercream
Storing
Store in an airtight container. At room temperature it will keep for 1-2 days or it may be refrigerated for up to a week (just keep in mind the fridge is liable to dry out your cake). Zebra cake (frosted or unfrosted) may also be frozen and will keep for 2-3 months in the freezer.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Be sure to check out my video in the recipe where I’ll show you exactly how I make this in my own kitchen!
Zebra Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cup (315 g) cake flour¹
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅔ cup avocado oil, canola oil or vegetable oil
- ¾ cup (175 ml) whole milk room temperature preferred
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract²
- 6 large or extra large egg whites room temperature preferred (see note for suggestions on recipes to try with leftover egg yolks)
For the Chocolate Layer
- ¼ cup (25 g) dark cocoa powder³
- 2 Tablespoons very hot or boiling water
- 2 Tablespoons sour cream this is additional from the sour cream listed above
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar this is additional from the sugar listed above
- 1 batch White Chocolate Frosting (or preferred frosting, see other great alternative icings listed in the post)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans (they must be at least 2” deep) by lining each of the bottoms with a round of parchment paper and generously spraying the sides with baking spray.
- In a stand mixer (or you may use a large bowl and an electric mixer) stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.2 ¾ cup (315 g) cake flour¹, 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Turn your mixer to low speed and add butter, one tablespoon at a time, not adding the next tablespoon until the first is incorporated. When you’re finished, the mixture should resemble coarse sandy crumbs (see photo in post or video above for visual).6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter
- Add oil and stir until combined.⅔ cup avocado oil, canola oil or vegetable oil
- In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract and stir into batter until thoroughly incorporated.¾ cup (175 ml) whole milk, ½ cup (120 g) sour cream, 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract²
- In a separate clean, dry, and grease-free bowl use clean beaters to beat egg whites to stiff peaks (I show a visual of this in the post above and in the video).6 large or extra large egg whites
- Use a spatula to gently fold egg whites into batter (don’t overmix, but make sure there are no lumps of egg white remaining).
- Portion 3 cups (580 grams) of batter into a separate bowl (you’ll be left with 5 cups in your first bowl), we’ll be making this into chocolate batter.
To make chocolate batter
- In a large measuring cup, stir together hot water and cocoa powder (it will be thick!). Add sour cream and sugar and whisk until well combined, then stir into your smaller bowl of batter and use a spatula to carefully stir together until completely combined.¼ cup (25 g) dark cocoa powder³, 2 Tablespoons very hot or boiling water, 2 Tablespoons sour cream, 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- Dollop approximately ⅓ cup of white batter into the center of each of your prepared cake pans. Using a clean scoop, scoop just shy of ⅓ cup of chocolate batter and drop that directly onto the center of the white batter. Repeat, alternating batter flavors, until you have used all of the batter. Take a reasonable amount of care so that your white batter doesn’t touch another ring of white batter nor does a ring of chocolate overlap with any of the other chocolate batter, this will keep your stripes looking like stripes and not like marbled swirls (more about this in the post).
- Carefully transfer pans to 350F (175C) oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes then run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen from the sides (if needed) and carefully invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- If needed, carefully level the cakes with a sharp serrated knife once completely cooled.
- Decorate using my white chocolate icing linked to in the ingredients, or with your frosting of choice (see notes for some of my favorite recommendations for this cake).1 batch White Chocolate Frosting
Notes
Recipes to Make with Leftover Egg Yolks:
- Creme Brûlée (easier than you probably think!)
- Pound Cake (you need 6 whole eggs and 6 egg yolks for this recipe, so you’re halfway there!)
- Cream Puffs
- Eclairs
- Chocolate Pie
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Sonya Goins
I was a little intimidated by how well I would get the zebra pattern, but omg it turned out great! it looks so cool and tastes absolutely delicious!! I made a chocolate cream cheese filling and used whipped cream cheese frosting!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sonya! 🙂
Caro
I’m not one to usually leave comments but this recipe is absolutely perfect! It is very easy to follow and I was stunned to see the result, it looked so great, everyone loved it! Not only that but it also tasted absolutely amazing – the cake was moist, not too sweet, and your icing recipe is nice and light. THANK YOU!
Sam
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, Caro! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Carol
hi oh my gosh, I love all your recipes! Can I use black cocoa for this recipe?
Sam
Hi Carol! I’ve never used black cocoa here but I think it would work very well! If you try it would you let me know how it works out for you?
Carol
absolutely I’ll be making it this week for my nephews seventh birthday. I will take a picture it on Saturday.!!
Alanna
I would like to make a 3 layer with 9” pans instead of a 2 layer 8” cake, how would you recommend I double the recipe? Should I simply just double the recipe or would that not be enough cake batter? Can’t wait to try this for my daughters “Two Wild” birthday party
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Alanna! Doubling will give you enough batter for your pans with just a bit leftover. Make sure not to overfill, and you should be good to go 😊
Supriya
Fantastic recipe! I made it in 2 batches with a 10″ cake tin. Moist and tasty. The layers looked great after cutting 🙂
Linea Van Horn
I’ve been wanting to make this cake for months and I finally had an event where I could make it. It turned out perfectly! I slavishly followed the recipe and did not have any problems. The cake smelled and tasted delicious and the zebra stripes were a big hit. I’ll be returning to this recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Linea! 🙂
Venee'
Do you have a conversion chart for changing the pan sizes? I’m looking for how the ingredient measurements change when making the adjustments for the cake pan sizes. I want to make a test cake using 6″ pans and I want to make a 10″ for a birthday party. Thanks
Sam
Hi Venee! Unfortunately I do not have one. 🙁
Machelle
Hi Sam! Thanks for all the wonderful recipes! I’m making a tiger cake and thought I’d consider this recipe. I did a trial run doing it with your vanilla cake recipe but I had to add so much food coloring to get the batter black and orange. I think the amount of food coloring I used changed the texture of the cake. Was thinking if i use this recipe, the dark chocolate powder will already help out with the color so i won’t need to add as much black food coloring. My questions is: if adding a significant amount of food coloring, do i need to adjust the amounts of other ingredients such as flour?
Sam
Hi Machelle! Adding A LOT of food coloring could potentially cause issues, but I’m not sure what alterations would need to be made. I think you’d need a substantial amount to cause any issues. If you over-mix your batter adding it in, it will cause issues with the cake. Have you tried gel food coloring? It provides a much more vibrant color with a lot less. 🙂
Vilna
Hello I would like to make this cake for my granddaughter’s 3rd birthday. She adores zebra’s
Can I make this cake in advance and how long will it stay fresh?
Sam
Hi Vilna! I would say for freshest taste, I would recommend serving within the first 3 days, or course you will need them store in an air tight contianer. If it will be longer than 3 days, I would recommend wrapping and freezing. 🙂
Gigi
I made this cake for my granddaughters birthday last year, turned out wonderful, and delicious.
My question I have is can you omit the chocolate part of the recipe and just use the recipe for a white cake and cupcakes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Gigi! We’re so happy it was a hit! We’d actually recommend our white cake recipe for this 😊
Betty Esdlinger
I made this cake because it looked challenging, but your video made it so easy. We loved the cake. I used 2% milk and it did just fine. I am a fan!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Betty! 🙂
Lauren
Hello! Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes? Any changes you would make if making into cupcakes? My daughter is having a TWO wild birthday party! Thought this would be great! Have made this recipe before for a cake and it was delicious.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Lauren! It will take a bit of time to do, but you certainly can make this recipe as cupcakes. We hope they are a big hit at the party! 🥳
Lauren Barber
Thank you! Do you by chance know how many cupcakes this may make and would I keep the same baking time? Thank you so much!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’d estimate about 24 cupcakes. The bake time will probably be 17-18 minutes 😊
Klaudia
I am planning on making this cake for a birthday, i have many cake pans but none of the are the same size. Can i put all the batter in one pan and do i have to increase the time set or can i do something else.
Cheers!
Sam
Hi Klaudia! This batter will fit into a 9 x 13, but I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how the striping would turn out. You would probably have to bake it longer, but unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to try this in any other pans so I can’t say for sure how long it would need to bake. 🙁
Denise
Hi Sam,
I posted earlier however I addressed my comment to the wrong person.
Im planning on doing this cake however will be using2-8”x 3” deep cake pans and and 2-6”x3” cake pans and torting. Im doing a tiered cake for my daughters 17th birthday.
What would you recommend to adjust the recipe by?
Initially I was thinking increase by 50% for the 8” pans or use 3 pans instead of 2.
For the 6” x 3” pans the recipe should be fine for the dont you think? Or should increase by 50% again and use 3 pans?
Thank you for your help.
Sam
Hi Denise! Since you are using 3 inch deep pans you’ll be making a taller cake so you’d likely need to increase the recipe by 50% to make just the 8 inch layers, and then you’d still need the 6 inch pans so I’d probably do another 50% for those. Likely doubling the recipe would work, but I haven’t tried it in those pans to know for sure.
Kristi
Looks wonderful! I am excited to try it. Can this be made in 6” pans?
Sam
Hi Kristi! This will make enough batter for 3 6″ pans. Make sure to not overfill them. I’m not sure on a bake time. I hope you love it! 🙂
Awatif
I made it 😅 taste great but it sink in the meddle
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Oh no! Sounds like it may have needed just a few more minutes in the oven 🙁
Denise
Im planning on using 2- 8”x3” deep pans
And 2-6”x3” deep pans for a tiered recipe Im doing for my daughters 17th.
How do you suggest I adjust the recipe to accommodate the deeper pans ?
Sam
Since you are trying to make taller cakes, I would just double the recipe and don’t overfill your pans. 🙂
Sarah
Great recipe! The cake was amazing – moist, flavorful and fluffy – and the zebra stripes were super effective. I made it for a friend’s birthday and everyone raved about the cake. Definitely will make again and didn’t change a thing.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sarah! 🙂