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A simple two layer vanilla and chocolate marble cake with chocolate and vanilla swirled buttercream frosting and more

Marble cake

Marble cake is iconic. One of the best flavour of bakes out there, and I love it. I posted my marble loaf cake ages ago and its always been so popular on my blog as a simple bake when you are craving CAKE.

The standard mixture is chocolate and vanilla, so thats what I went for on this recipe. I wanted to do a round cake version that is simple, straightforward and easy to do.

It’s a smaller two layer cake with slightly thinner sponges so that there isn’t TOO much cake. If you wanted to create a bigger cake to decorate more, you will need to increase the amount of cake mixture.

Classic bakes

I love a simple and classic bake. They are sometimes the most iconic bakes that you can make and I simply love posting more of them to inspire you all.

Carrot cake is probably my favourite cake, but when you can mix flavours together you can get multiple flavours in one and that makes this even better.

Some of my other favourite classic bakes are chocolate fudge cake, or even my Victoria sponge. I just adore the bakes that have been around for years.

The cake

  • Butter – for the butter, you can use a baking spread or a block butter – both work well for the cake.
  • Sugar – I use caster sugar for this so the vanilla part is nice and sweet, but you can use light brown sugar if you prefer 
  • Flour – self raising flour, as it’s for a cake.
  • Eggs – I always use medium eggs, so I used five eggs for this.
  • Chocolate – I add a little cocoa powder to the chocolate half
  • Vanilla – And I add a little vanilla to the vanilla half
  • Milk – the milk so help with the thickness of the chocolate sponge mixture. Cocoa powder is a little drying.

The buttercream

I wanted to make this cake as basic as possible, so I went for a simple American buttercream frosting.

  • Butter – you must use block butter for the frosting, and not a spread.
  • Sugar – I use icing sugar, of course. I prefer to use one with an anti-caking agent so it doesn’t spray everywhere when mixing.
  • Chocolate – Again adding a little cocoa powder to the chocolate half
  • Vanilla – And again adding a little vanilla to the vanilla half

Decoration

This cake is so easy to decorate. I use a jumbo round piping tip to create this look, but honestly you can use whichever piping tip that you want to.

I line up both of the buttercream flavours onto a large piece of clingfilm in two rows. Once lined up, I roll the clingfilm and buttercream into a sausage and roll it tightly. Then, I snip off the end and add it to a large piping bag with the piping tip in the end.

This is a good way to swirl different buttercreams together without creating a mess, and creating a consistent way of getting both flavours in every bite.

Tips and Tricks

  • This cake will last for 3-4+ days once baked
  • You can add other flavours in as well such as orange into the chocolate section, or lemon into the vanilla section and so on 
  • This cake can freeze for 3+ months 
  • I use this piping tip
  • I use these cake tins 

Marble Cake

A simple two layer vanilla and chocolate marble cake with chocolate and vanilla swirled buttercream frosting and more. 
Print Pin Rate
Category: Cake
Type: Bundt Cake
Keyword: Chocolate, Marble, Vanilla
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Cooling & decorating: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours
Servings: 12 slices
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

Cake

  • 275 g unsalted butter/baking spread
  • 275 g caster sugar
  • 275 g self raising flour
  • 5 medium eggs
  • 25 g cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp whole milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Buttercream

  • 200 g unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 400 g icing sugar
  • 25 g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • sprinkles

Instructions

Cake

  • Heat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line two 8” cake tins with baking parchment
  • Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
  • Add the flour and eggs and mix together 
  • Split the mixture into two bowls
  • Add the cocoa powder and milk to one bowl, and the vanilla extract to another and mix
  • Dollop randomly between the two tins and then swirl together
  • Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until baked through
  • Leave to cool fully 

Buttercream

  • Beat the butter on it’s own for a few minutes 
  • Add the icing sugar and mix 
  • Split the mixture into two bowls
  • Add the cocoa powder to one bowl, and the vanilla extract to another and mix
  • Grab a large piece of cling film and add the two flavours of buttercream in two lines in the middle of the cling film
  • Roll the piece of cling film up into a sausage, snip off the end, and add to a piping bag 
  • Pipe the buttercream onto the cake however you fancy
  • Decorate with sprinkles 

Notes

  • This cake will last for 3-4+ days once baked
  • You can add other flavours in as well such as orange into the chocolate section, or lemon into the vanilla section and so on 
  • This cake can freeze for 3+ months 
  • I use this piping tip
  • I use these cake tins 

ENJOY!

Find my other 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.

9 Comments

  1. Tracy Braithwaite on September 24, 2024 at 1:43 pm

    How many large eggs would I need for this recipe?.

  2. Han on August 26, 2024 at 7:47 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane, I’m planning on making this this week (going to make a 6” 3 layer version with vanilla/chocolate buttercream coating and chocolate drip ☺️), I am curious though, why you have used 275g of all the basic ingredients even though it is a 5 egg sponge (I’ve noticed it’s usually 250g for most of your cakes), is there any reason for this? Thanks & thanks for your amazing recipes 🙌🏻☺️

  3. Therese Smith on July 9, 2024 at 2:19 pm

    Hi Jane how would I scale this recipe down to a 7 inch size please?

  4. Kinjal on June 16, 2024 at 9:53 pm

    How can I add orange flavour to the chocolate sponge?If I wanted to add orange juice how much would I add?

  5. Lucy Goodacre on April 25, 2024 at 1:36 pm

    What would I do to make a 3 tier of this please?

    • Julie on May 5, 2024 at 2:14 pm

      I’d halve the ingredients to make a 3rd sponge.



  6. Sanah on March 23, 2024 at 1:43 pm

    Hi Jane,

    Which cocoa powder do you recommend for baking?

    Thanks!

  7. Bianca on February 3, 2024 at 10:36 am

    5 stars
    What a great recipe! Although i had to add 2 tbsp milk to the icing to make it smoother. Do you know why? Thanks

    • Jane's Patisserie on February 11, 2024 at 2:21 pm

      Sometimes in winter that’s needed – in the summer it’s much less likely!



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