Marmorkuchen - German Marble Cake

My second attempt from the Dr. Oetker Backen Macht Freude book was a classic Marmorkuchen (marble cake), which we baked late one night while waiting for Conan O'Brien's first Tonight Show to be aired. (Conan rules!) The Marmorkuchen happens to be the Titelfoto of the book (which you can see in my previous post). In the photo, the cake is baked in a loaf tin, but I prefer my marble cakes in a ring shape. I couldn't find my half-sized bundt tin (used here and here), so I dug out my mum's full-sized ring tin and made a full batch of the recipe.

Now, mum's ring tin is probably older than me, and was made before non-stick surfaces were popular. (Or perhaps before they were even invented???) I buttered and floured the tin well.

See Thanh? I can do it!

The cake is in the Rührteig (literally: "mixed dough") chapter of the book, which means it is a standard creamed-butter cake. The main difference between this German Marmorkuchen and what I would call an ordinary butter cake is the use of Vanillezucker instead of vanilla extract, and Rum-aroma. (These, and other German baking goodies are available at The Polish Deli in Vic market, as well as other Delis around town).

The cake took a bit longer to cook than expected, and we were unmolding it just as Conan was making his epic run from New York to LA.

Ta-dah! It didn't break! Yay!

Tin straight after unmoulding. I felt very proud of myself, heh.

I almost considered slicing off the top, to give the unmoulded cake a flat base to sit on, but then I realised that that would have been most of the chocolate part. And the crusty parts of the cake are always my favourites. Yum!



The Marmorkuchen was so delicious straight out of the oven, and I loved the smooth and even texture. I was a bit suss about putting 3 tsp of baking powder in there, but it didn't seem to affect the finished product negatively. The only thing about the cake I didn't like was the rum aroma - I wasn't accustomed to the taste, and found aroma a bit strong. However, my suggestion of leaving it out next time was flatly denied - "that's what makes it smell like the real Marmorkuchen my Mama makes!" Maybe I'll just reduce the quantity: a few drops, rather than half a Fläschchen.

My second attempt from the Dr. Oetker Backen Macht Freude book was a classic Marmorkuchen (marble cake), which we baked late one night while waiting for Conan O'Brien's first Tonight Show to be aired. (Conan rules!) The Marmorkuchen happens to be the Titelfoto of the book (which you can see in my previous post). In the photo, the cake is baked in a loaf tin, but I prefer my marble cakes in a ring shape. I couldn't find my half-sized bundt tin (used here and here), so I dug out my mum's full-sized ring tin and made a full batch of the recipe.

Now, mum's ring tin is probably older than me, and was made before non-stick surfaces were popular. (Or perhaps before they were even invented???) I buttered and floured the tin well.

See Thanh? I can do it!

The cake is in the Rührteig (literally: "mixed dough") chapter of the book, which means it is a standard creamed-butter cake. The main difference between this German Marmorkuchen and what I would call an ordinary butter cake is the use of Vanillezucker instead of vanilla extract, and Rum-aroma. (These, and other German baking goodies are available at The Polish Deli in Vic market, as well as other Delis around town).

The cake took a bit longer to cook than expected, and we were unmolding it just as Conan was making his epic run from New York to LA.

Ta-dah! It didn't break! Yay!

Tin straight after unmoulding. I felt very proud of myself, heh.

I almost considered slicing off the top, to give the unmoulded cake a flat base to sit on, but then I realised that that would have been most of the chocolate part. And the crusty parts of the cake are always my favourites. Yum!



The Marmorkuchen was so delicious straight out of the oven, and I loved the smooth and even texture. I was a bit suss about putting 3 tsp of baking powder in there, but it didn't seem to affect the finished product negatively. The only thing about the cake I didn't like was the rum aroma - I wasn't accustomed to the taste, and found aroma a bit strong. However, my suggestion of leaving it out next time was flatly denied - "that's what makes it smell like the real Marmorkuchen my Mama makes!" Maybe I'll just reduce the quantity: a few drops, rather than half a Fläschchen.