This scratch marble layer cake is actually moist and it makes the perfect birthday cake. This recipe uses simple ingredients and it doesn’t skimp on the chocolate like some marble cakes do. When you can’t make up your mind whether you want chocolate or vanilla cake…have both!
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
Almost every single year, my son would ask for a marble cake for his birthday. I think it was really because he couldn’t decide if he wanted chocolate or vanilla, so he just figured he’d get the best of both worlds.
That’s kind of what I think about marble cake. Depending on how much you marble it, you can get mostly vanilla in one bite, or mostly chocolate.
This one has a bit more chocolate batter in it than the average marble cake and that’s because I find that in other marble cakes, you just don’t get much chocolate flavor.
If you prefer less chocolate, you can always lower the amount of batter you add the chocolate to…that will be just fine. You can also just not marble it as much.
Let’s look at some of the ingredients in this marble:
All purpose flour: You’ll just use regular ol’ all purpose flour in this cake, so there’s no need to go out and get cake flour.
Unsalted butter: Just make sure you’re using unsalted and not salted butter.
Sour cream: If you’ve been around my blog for any length of time, you’ll know I love sour cream in cakes. It just gives them a great texture and adds moisture.
Cocoa Powder: You’re only going to use a small amount here, so the type probably doesn’t matter. I used Natural Unsweetened Hershey’s Cocoa Powder.
Double Chocolate Buttercream: You’re going to want to cover this cake in a delicious layer of buttercream and I’ve got ya covered with that one. I really like this cake with my Double Chocolate Buttercream.
Mixing method for this cake:
The mixing method for this cake is the regular creaming method. I wanted a lighter crumb and I wanted this cake to be a bit fluffier, so I went with the creaming method instead of the reverse creaming method.
So, essentially you’ll be whipping up the sugar and butter together really well (for a couple minutes) and incorporating as much air as you can. Then you’ll add in the eggs one at a time, then you’ll alternately add in the dry and liquid ingreients.
Now, since there is more mixing involved in this mixing method, you’ll want to make sure only to mix until the ingredients are combined. Try really hard not to over-mix or you’ll get a dense cake.
Tips & FAQs for the scratch marble cake:
Don’t microwave it though…that heats it unevenly and it can even melt parts of it. Just cut your butter into chunks and set it out onto the counter for about an hour or so.
If you can get your eggs to come closer to room temperature, they will mix in better.
You definitely don’t want to leave it out, but you can use yogurt in place of it if you need to. Use the full fat yogurt though and not the light kind.
Reduced fat sour cream isn’t going to work as well.
Be careful adjusting ingredients in cake recipes because it could throw off the ratios. Sugar doesn’t only add sweetness, but it also helps add moisture to the cake. You could perhaps lower it by ¼ to ⅓, but I would not try lowering more than by that amount, or it could affect the texture and moisture of the cake.
You want to incorporate as much air as possible in this step and you want the mixture to be nice and fluffy.
Mix only until the ingredients are combined well. Don’t mix the cake batter for several minutes, that’s too long. You’ll only mix that long when you’re beating the butter and sugar only. Mixing scratch cake batter too long will cause the cake to either not rise properly, or have a weird texture to it.
This helps all the ingredients to emulsify (blend) better. It helps the batter to not curdle on you.
If you want only a small amount of chocolate swirl, just make sure to mix it less. For more chocolate swirl, mix it more.
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Supplies used for this cake:
- White mixing bowl set
- Whisks
- Rubber spatulas
- Hand mixer
- 8″ round cake pans
- Cooling racks
- Medium icing spatula
Ok now let’s get to the recipe! Don’t forget to check out the video as well!
**By the way, this recipe was developed and tested using volume measurements (cups etc.). I do this because most people are used to measuring, instead of weighing. You may use the metric converter button to see the weight (gram) measurements. Those numbers are estimates on weight. Your results may vary a bit if you use the weight measurements.
Recipe:
Scratch Marble Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter – room temp (2 sticks)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs – room temp
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup milk (use whole milk if you can get it)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste if you can get it)
- ⅓ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 3-4 tablespoon milk (use whole milk if you can get it)
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Grease and flour two, 8 inch round cake pans and set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk well and set aside.
- In another bowl, add the oil, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk well and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter and the sugar and mix on medium and then on medium high for several minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs one at a time and mix on medium just until combined after each. Only mix until the egg is just incorporated. Try not to over mix. It’s best if your eggs are room temperature, but if they’re cold, your batter may look a little curdled at this point.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again on medium, just until everything is incorporated.
- Alternately add in the flour mixture and the liquid mixture. Starting and ending with the flour mixture. (Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix on medium just until combined. Add in ½ the liquid mixture, mixing only until combined. Add in another ⅓ of the flour mixture, mixing only until combined. Add in the last of the liquid mixture, mixing only until combined, then the last of the flour mixture and mix until combined.)
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again only for 5-7 seconds or so. You only want to mix until well combined. Mixing for several minutes is too long for a scratch cake. The batter will be thick.
- Add about 1 to 1 ½ cups of the batter into a small mixing bowl. (If you want less chocolate swirl, use 1 cup, if you want more chocolate swirl use 1 ½ cups)
- To that batter, add the cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon oil and the 3 tablespoons of milk and mix well with a spoon or rubber spatula. If the batter is very stiff, mix in another tablespoon of milk.
- Add the chocolate batter back into the vanilla batter by tablespoonfuls. Then swirl the batter in the bowl with a spoon or rubber spatula. Just marble the batter, don’t mix it completely.
- Spread into two prepared 8″ round cake pans. (The batter will be thick.)
- Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 40-45 minutes. Insert a toothpick somewhere in the middle and a few moist crumbs should stick to the toothpick.
- Cool on a wire rack, in the pans, for about 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the rack and allow them to cool completely before freezing the layers, or covering in buttercream.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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jabeve
Can your from scratch Marble cake be madeve in a 9×13 pan? Thanks
Kara Jane
I have not tried this recipe in a 13×9 inch pan, but it should be just fine. I would bake it at the same temperature for about the same time, although you may want to start checking it at about 30 minutes.
jabeve
Thank you….Will try it soon and report back to you.
Soncerae
This cake taste AMAZING and it’s so moist. I will never buy a marble cake mix every again. An it was so easy to make. The whole family loved it and your recipe for the double chocolate buttercream frosting. It just sent it over the top.
Kara Jane
Oh this made my day! I’m so happy it turned out for you and that you loved it. 🙂 Thank you for the wonderful review!
Tee
Do you know how many cups of batter this recipe will yield? I need to make a 12” round cake
Kara Jane
Hi, I don’t really measure how many cups are in batter. To figure out how much batter I’ll need, I normally just go by how many recipe batches I’ll need to make. So, for a 12 inch round cake, you can probably use one recipe for each 12″ round cake layer. You might have a bit left over though. You could probably do a recipe and a half for 2, 12″ round cakes. (This is if you’re using 2″ deep pans. If you’re using 3″ deep pans, then you’ll need more batter.)
Tee
Hello, I’m urgently trying to make marble cupcakes with your wonderful recipe. Can you please help with how I may need to alter the recipe for 12 cupcakes?
Kara Jane
The full recipe will make about 24 cupcakes, so if you need to make only 12, then you’ll need to make only half of the recipe.
Tee
Thank you!!
Esther
Thank you Kara Jane , for your marble cake recipe I’m going to bake later for my family .?♥️♥️♥️
Kara Jane
You’re so welcome! I hope you love it! 🙂
Esther
Hi Kara Jane , I don’t have sour cream but have Greek yogurt I can use the same amount as sour cream. Please let me know thank you ?♥️♥️♥️
Kara Jane
Yes you can use Greek yogurt instead and in the same amount.
Esther
Thank you Kara Jane, I bake the cake it’s turned up very beautiful and tasty. Thank you so much.God bless ?♥️♥️♥️
Kara Jane
Oh that’s wonderful! So glad you liked it!
Kimberly
Hi, I have been trying to find a recipe for a dairy free marble cake since my nieces are allergic. Your cake looks amazing and moist! Do you know if it would turn out well with dairy-free substitutions? Thanks!
Kimberly
Kara Jane
I’m not very experienced at baking dairy-free, but it would be worth a shot! Replace the butter with dairy-free butter or margarine, replace the sour cream with dairy-free sour cream or yogurt, the milk with a dairy-free alternative (I’d go with something that has a good amount of fat in it like coconut). If you need to also replace the eggs…that’s when it would get a little tricky, but if eggs are okay, I’d just try the subs above and see how it turns out. Let me know if you try it…I’m curious!
Jordan
Found this cake on a FB cake decorating page I follow with rave reviews. Would this cake be dense enough but not too dense tasting to carve? I’m carving a dinosaur, likely 6 layers high with center dowel, but was asked for a not too dense cake. Thanks.
Kara
Oh wonderful! It’s nice to know it got rave reviews! I get what you’re saying about the density. In my opinion, I feel like this one is somewhere in the middle when it comes to denseness. Since it’s a scratch cake, it’s a bit more dense and not quite as fluffy as a box cake, but it’s not super dense either. You might put it in the fridge to chill before carving though as that will help keep it together. That’s always helped me. It might be a good idea to make a small batch of this though to see how you like it before making all 6 layers though. I’m always a big fan of doing a test cake. Hope this helps. 🙂
Jem
I’d like to change this recipe from 2 8in layers to 3 6in layers. What do you recommend for baking time?
Kara
Hi Jem, good question. So, if you use one recipe batch and split it between 3, 6-inch round cake pans then the cake layers will be thinner than if you’d used 2, 8-inch round pans. So, you’ll need to bake them for less time. I don’t know the exact time as I normally make this in the 8-inch round pans, but I’d start checking at about 25 minutes. You could also bake them at 350 degrees F, instead of 325 degrees, since they are smaller and that will take some time off the baking as well and might help them puff up a bit more. To play it safe, start checking at 20-25 minutes. You don’t have to open the oven door at that point, just turn the light on and take a peek and see if the batter has firmed up, then keep a close eye on it. The batter will be a bit thinner so it will dry out quicker if left too long to bake. Here’s a link to a post on how to tell when a cake is done that might also be helpful. It’s a lot to re-type here, so this post will lay it out for you: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/how-to-tell-when-a-cake-is-done-baking/
Hope this helps!
Jordan
Hi, I’d like to make this cake 4 layers high in 6 inch pans. Would 1.5 batches be enough? I presume cook time would be 325 degrees for roughly 25 minutes?
Kara
Hi Jordan, yes I think that would be a good amount to make. Yes, start checking them earlier and I think 25 minutes is a good guess to start checking, but it’ll probably need a bit more time than that. You could also bake them at 350 degrees F as they’re smaller and it might help them rise up a little more. Of course, you’ll need to check them earlier…maybe around 20 minutes or so.
Sally
Kara,
First & foremost – I LOVE all your cakes, decorating tips and all recipes! Thank you so much for all you do! Your white cake is an all-time favorite in our family! I’m no pro at all, but enjoy baking – esp for my family. My grandchildren have all asked me to make their birthday cakes. Question – for the marble cake recipe, I need to make it in a half sheet cake pan (13×18) – do you think I should double this recipe since it’s for 2-8″ cakes? Thank you again for everything Buttercream & then some! 🙂
Kara
Hi Sally, I think a recipe batch and a 1/2 would probably be enough, since one batch would fill a 13×9 inch pan. If you just want to play it super safe though, you could double it and you’d probably have some extra and could make some cupcakes out of it. Also, thanks so much for your kind words!