Marble Cupcakes!

Chocolate & vanilla marble cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting! Heavenly little treats for all the cake lovers out there! 

There’s just something ridiculously satisfying about marble cake, isn’t there? That moment when you slice or bite into it and see the two flavours all swirled together… perfection. But marble cake in cupcake form? Even better. I feel slightly less guilty eating one (or two…), and honestly, cupcakes are just my forever weakness.

I went for classic flavours, chocolate and vanilla because they’re timeless, comforting, and always a crowd-pleaser. but you can mix and match flavours to your heart’s content. Lemon & blueberry, berry & pistachio, white chocolate & raspberry… absolutely go wild.

Marble magic

The beauty of marbled cupcakes is that they look far more impressive than the effort that goes into them. They’re basically as easy as normal cupcakes, you’re just swirling two mixtures together instead of one. I simply spoon small blobs of each mixture into the cases until they’re all divided evenly, then give them a gentle swirl to create that pretty wavy pattern.

If you prefer a more dramatic marble, use bigger scoops and swirl with a cake skewer. If you want delicate, elegant streaks, alternate little spoons of each mixture. Every method works, and no two cupcakes ever look exactly the same… which I love. 

Alternatives

Once you have mastered the marble effect it can be utilised in many different bakes, I often double the amount of mixture and create a layer cake by doubling the cupcake ingredients and splitting between two deeper 8″ tins, and baking till springy to touch and baked through, then double the filling as well, and slather all over!

You can marble loaf cakes, traybakes, or even bundt cakes with exactly the same method, just alternate the spoonfuls of batter and swirl. The marbling keeps them looking fun and impressive, while the flavours do all the talking. Honestly, once you start marbling, you’ll want to marble everything… and I fully support that!

Frosting

For the topping, I stayed with a silky chocolate buttercream because I wanted the cupcake to have that rich, indulgent finish. But you can absolutely swirl your buttercream like the mixture, half chocolate, half vanilla, if you want the decoration to match the marble inside. It looks stunning, especially with a big piping swirrrrrl from a 2D closed star tip.

If you are doing two-tone frosting, the easiest way is to put each flavour into its own small piping bag, snip the ends, then pop both into a larger piping bag with your chosen nozzle. When you squeeze, both colours pipe out together in the most amazing swirled pattern. Zero stress, maximum effect.

Cupcake joy

Marble cupcakes are always one of those bakes that look like you’ve put way more effort in than you actually have. They’re fun, simple, customisable, and always a hit with both kids and adults. These ones disappeared rather quickly with my taste testers… no surprises there. 

I hope you love these as much as I did! Enjoy! 

Tips & tricks

• I buy my cupcake cases HERE!
• I used my favourite 2D closed start piping tip
• You can easily make a two-tone frosting if you wished to make it even more marble, as I have written above in the blurb, but I went for all chocolate as I was craving chocolate frosting and it didn’t disappoint.
• You can bake these delicious cupcakes into a layer cake by doubling the cupcake ingredients and splitting between two deeper 8″ tins, and baking till springy to touch and baked through (see my other cakes for details on time!) – then double the filling as well, and slather all over!
• These delicious beings will last in a container for 3 days!

Marble Cupcakes!

Chocolate & vanilla marble cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting! Heavenly little treats for all the cake lovers out there! 

Print Pin Rate

Category: Cake

Type: Cupcakes

Keyword: Chocolate, Marble, Vanilla

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Decorating/cooling time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours

Servings: 12 Cupcakes

Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 175 g unsalted butter/baking spread
• 175 g caster sugar
• 3 Large eggs
• 175 g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 2-4 tbsp whole milk

Decoration

• 150 g unsalted butter (not baking spread)
• 300 g icing sugar
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 2-3 tbsp boiling water (only if needed)
• sprinkles/drizzles

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with large cupcake cases/muffin cases
• Cream together the butter and caster sugar with an electric beater till smooth – add in the eggs and flour and beat again for about about 20-30 seconds on a medium speed until combined.
• Split the mixture between two bowls and add the vanilla to one half, and the cocoa powder to the other and beat each again until smooth. Once combined it might still be a little stiff, so loosen with the whole milk, about 2 tbsps each!
• Spoon small spoonfuls randomly into your cases to create a marble effect until they’re about 2/3 full and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through! Leave to cool on a wire rack.
• Once the cakes are cool, decorate! Beat the butter for a couple of minutes until really smooth and light – add in the icing sugar, one half at a time and beat in-between each addition. Add in the cocoa powder and beat together till smooth and fluffy (takes about 3-4 minutes).
• Once finished, pipe your buttercream onto the cupcakes using your favourite tip.
• Decorate how you fancy with some sprinkles, or a chocolate drizzle!

Notes

• I buy my cupcake cases HERE!
• I used my favourite 2D closed star piping tip
• You can easily make a two-tone frosting if you wished to make it even more marble, as I have written above in the blurb, but I went for all chocolate as I was craving chocolate frosting and it didn’t disappoint.
• You can bake these delicious cupcakes into a layer cake by doubling the cupcake ingredients and splitting between two deeper 8″ tins, and baking till springy to touch and baked through (see my other cakes for details on time!) – then double the filling as well, and slather all over!
• These delicious beings will last in a container for 3 days!

ENJOY!

Find my other Cupcakes Recipes on my Recipes Page!

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J x

© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.