So after making both macarons and a biscotti recipe that used egg whites only, I had some extra egg yolks on hand. I love the fact that Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbooks include lists of recipes that require egg whites only and egg yolks only. So it was easy for me to select a recipe to use up my yolks: Beranbaum's "Marble Velvet Cake" from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.
This is a high-ratio cake (equal weights of sugar and flour) that uses a two-stage mixing method: you combine all of the dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt); add room temperature butter and sour cream; and gradually add the liquid ingredients (egg yolks, more sour cream, and vanilla). You take a third of the batter and mix it with melted dark chocolate. The you layer the vanilla and chocolate batters in a well-greased Bundt pan -- vanilla, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. You swirl the batters together to create the marbling effect and bake.
The outside of my cake was a solid golden color so you couldn't tell it was comprised of chocolate batter marbled with vanilla until it was sliced. The marbling patterns were very pretty -- I wonder if the five layers of batter in the pan are responsible for the particularly elegant swirly result (other marble cakes I've made usually include only three layers). Beranbaum includes a recipe for a chocolate ganache glaze that she suggests using to dress up the cake for special occasions, but I skipped it. I didn't think that the glaze would set firm, and since I was planning on slicing the cake and packing it in Tupperware to take to the office, a soft glaze would just create a big mess.
This cake was soft and tender with a tight and downy soft crumb. Bernanbaum notes that the two-stage mixing method yields a finer crumb and more tender texture, and I think that the texture of this cake was perfect. It was definitely deserving of a "velvet" moniker. That said, the flavor was not all that memorable. The cake wasn't very chocolatey (there were only three ounces of chocolate in the chocolate batter), although obviously that would have been different if I had used the chocolate glaze.
I enjoyed this cake, but I don't think I would make it again -- at least, not unless I topped it with the glaze or did something else to boost the flavor. But the recipe delivered exactly what it promised: a velvety soft cake with a beautiful marbled design.
Recipe: "Marble Velvet Cake" from Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Previous Posts:
This is a high-ratio cake (equal weights of sugar and flour) that uses a two-stage mixing method: you combine all of the dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt); add room temperature butter and sour cream; and gradually add the liquid ingredients (egg yolks, more sour cream, and vanilla). You take a third of the batter and mix it with melted dark chocolate. The you layer the vanilla and chocolate batters in a well-greased Bundt pan -- vanilla, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. You swirl the batters together to create the marbling effect and bake.
This cake was soft and tender with a tight and downy soft crumb. Bernanbaum notes that the two-stage mixing method yields a finer crumb and more tender texture, and I think that the texture of this cake was perfect. It was definitely deserving of a "velvet" moniker. That said, the flavor was not all that memorable. The cake wasn't very chocolatey (there were only three ounces of chocolate in the chocolate batter), although obviously that would have been different if I had used the chocolate glaze.
I enjoyed this cake, but I don't think I would make it again -- at least, not unless I topped it with the glaze or did something else to boost the flavor. But the recipe delivered exactly what it promised: a velvety soft cake with a beautiful marbled design.
Recipe: "Marble Velvet Cake" from Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Previous Posts:
- "Bad Deeds Inspire Good Cake: The Naughty Senator (Peppermint and Chocolate Rum Marble Cake)," February 28, 2014.
- "Marble Madness (Buttercake Bakery Marble Cake)," June 17, 2008.
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