Amelie's Kitchen - Swirly Marble Cake

Richard Dalby, the 'Bloke in a Kitchen' has been contributing to The Scallymag for a number of years now. Amelie was about 4 when he started. Well now she is devising her own recipes, so we are very pleased to welcome 'Girl in a Kitchen' to The Scallymag.

Swirly Marble Cake by Amelie Dalby

Don't worry, this cake doesn't contain any marbles, but the patches and swirls it forms makes a heavenly marble effect! It looks like a difficult cake to make but it is actually so easy and so effective in appearance! As well as Marble Cake, this cake also goes by the name of ''Cow Coat Cake'' because it has the same patches as a cow does, in two contrasting tones. This is a very popular tray-bake for parties or just for a sweet treat, and children particularly love the fun of baking marble cakes! Once complete, you will have a cake to be rightly proud of.

Makes approximately 20 small pieces.

Cake tin required: a 30×23 (12×9in) tray-bake or roasting tin.

For the cake:

225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
275g self-raising flour
2 level tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ level tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
50g plain chocolate chips

For the icing:

50g plain chocolate (Dark)
50g white chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Grease the tin by applying cooking oil to a paper towel and gently mopping the inside, then line the base with non-stick baking parchment.
Measure the softened butter (preferably butter that has been left to soften at room temperature for a couple of hours), sugar, flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat well for about two minutes with a wooden spoon, before continuing to combine with an electric whisk.
When well blended spoon half of the mixture into the prepared tin, dotting the spoonfuls apart, around the tin.
In a smaller bowl, blend the cocoa and hot water until free of lumps. Leave to cool slightly then combine with the left over cake mix. Add the chocolate chips too. You may wish to use an electric whisk again - the end should result to be a creamy, light brown shade. Spoon this chocolate mixture into the cake tin, filling in the gaps between the vanilla cake batter. Please always supervise young children when handling anything hot.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the cake has shrunk from the edges of the tin and, when pressed lightly in the centre, springs back to its original shape. Another way is to poke a skewer in the middle of the cake - if it comes out clean, it's baked. If it comes out with traces of mixture put it back in the oven for a further 2-5 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool before turning out onto a cooling rack.
To make the icing, snap the plain chocolate and white chocolate into pieces and place them in separate bowls. The easiest way to melt the chocolate is in a microwave oven, heating for only a few seconds at a time then stirring. If you can't do it that way, place the bowls over a pan of boiling water to heat them.
You now need two plastic piping bags or food bags work just as well. Snip a tiny hole at the end of each piping bags or across the corner of the food bags. To fill them fold the edges over a medium cup (this makes the job a whole lot easier) and spoon chocolate in each. Warning: This could be extremely hot! Drizzle the icing – as aimlessly or as neat as you like – over the top of the cake. Leave around 30 minutes before slicing into squares.