fake it till you bake it

MARBLE CAKE. another classic chez moi. this egalitarian cake is perfectly light and moist and the amount of sweetness is just right. we'll have it for any occasion and it never gets old.

so it was my friend's bday this week and since im completely broke i thought i'd build her this cake instead. It is especially inexpensive (our friendship is priceless...) when all the ingredients are readily available at your parent's house. Also, your (my?) parents are more likely to have things like rum extract, and dr. oetker's vanilla sugar, and a glorious Kitchen Aid mixer. actually, i dont advise attempting this recipe without a stand mixer unless you have superhuman upper-arm strength. It's a good recipe to make when you have an assignment due tomorrow and you've already re-organized your entire room and are looking for another way to procrastinate. basically it takes fooorrrreeevvvveer to make. but the results are completely worth the while. your whole house will smell like vanilla, which is an aphrodisiac in case you didnt know. so people will love your cake and they will love you...probably.

first you'll need:

- 250 grams butter

- 250 grams sugar

- 1 package vanilla sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 tsp rum extract

- pinch of salt

- 4 eggs

- 3/4 cups milk

- 500 grams all-purpose flour, sifted

- 5 tsp baking powder (mix this in with flour)

then you'll need:

- 5 tbs cocoa (unsweetened dutch-process) + 5 tbs sugar
- 3+ tbs milk
- 1 more tsp rum extract

ok, so traditionally this cake is supposed to be 2/3 vanilla vs. 1/3 chocolate but I sorta reversed that since chocolate is the best. if for some weird reason you prefer vanilla, only add 3 tbs of cocoa and sugar... it has something to do with math i think.......

1. Beat the butter until it's very very fluffy. This will take about 10-15 minutes, the butter will turn very light yellow. This is a crucial step so don't rush it!
2. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure it's fully incorporated.
3. Add packet of vanilla sugar.
4. Add eggs, one at a time.
5. Now add the vanilla, rum, and salt.
6. Now you'll mix in the flour/baking powder and milk. Alternate between spoonfuls of flour and milk. You should end up with a smooth thickish batter so that when you dip a spoon into your bowl the batter will ooze off slowly.
7. Eyeball about 1/3 of the batter and spoon it into your buttered cake mold.
8. To the remaining batter add the cocoa, sugar, and rum.

9. Now its time to marble! This part is sortof hard to explain, so I've added this visual to help! You need to spoon the chocolate batter over the vanilla. Then using a fork swirl the batter around to get the marble effect.

10. Bake the cake for 50-65 minutes at 175 C. When you insert a knife into your cake it should come out clean! Once it's ready immediately remove from the mold otherwise it will continue to cook. Flip the cake over onto a plate and let it cool

down.

11. Dust the cake with some icing sugar et voilà!