Chocolate-Vanilla Marble Cakes

When given the choice between two flavors of dessert, my heart is always torn.  How can I turn down either one?  Especially if they are both homemade.

When I got my copy of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food in the mail last week, this recipe caught my eye.  With this cake, I wouldn’t have to choose.  Two flavors in one slice.  A bite of rich chocolate from one corner, delicious vanilla from the other.

 Mini Chocolate-Vanilla Marble Cakes

adapted slightly from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1  3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1  1/2 cups buttermilk*
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 T hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter four 2 x 6 inch miniature loaf pans and line with parchment paper.
Bring cold ingredients to room temperature.  Butter should be soft enough to hold a thumbprint but still keep its shape.
In  a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time, until combined.  Beat in vanilla.
In another large bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
With mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beating to combine.  Beat in 3/4 cup of the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and the rest of the flour mixture.  Beat until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder and hot water.  Stir half of the cake batter into the cocoa mixture.
Spoon 2 dollops of batter into pan next to each other, 1 chocolate and 1 vanilla.  Repeat twice, alternating layers (chocolate on top of vanilla and vice versa) and swirl.
Bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 40-45 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.  Let cool completely in pans on wire rack.  Run a knife around edges, then turn out cakes.

*I rarely have buttermilk on hand, so I use this substitute:  for every cup of buttermilk you need, put one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup.  Add milk to make one cup.  So for this recipe, I used 1 1/2 Tablespoons of vinegar, then enough milk to make 1 1/2 cups)