Time for another cake! announced the cuckoo bird…well, not really, since I love to bake as often as I can, I thought of trying out this cake which my friend Rinku highly recommended. Since there was a pot luck party at the Women’s Day celebration for all mommies at my son’s playschool, I decided it would be good to try it out once before the actual day. There are no lengthy stories in this post 🙂 I will come straight to the point and allow you to enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed making this cake. The only problem with the way my cake turned out was that the surface browned a bit cuz i have such a teeny tiny OTG (Oven Toaster Grill) in which the heating elements on the top can be a bit too harsh if you don’t cover the cake with parchment paper (which I ran out of during the second time I tried it). During the first try I was too lazy to click the pictures cuz my family of three just wolfed it down to the last crumb on a lazy Wednesday two weeks ago. I intend to try it again sometime this week, cuz this cake is simply delicious! So, better pictures will follow. I simply had to post it now on request.
It’s an anytime cake & keeps well in an airtight container for upto 3 days without refrigeration. My hubby dubby who loves simple cakes initially thought I was whipping up a chocolate cake (which he doesn’t like to eat beyond a bite) when he saw me preparing the batter. But when I started to make the design he was convinced that this was going to be a marble cake with a twist 🙂 Its a breakfast, post lunch & tea time cake and a visual treat especially for little darlings like my son who cant have enough of the ‘Zebra Cake’ – he has a pillow in the same design 🙂
Zebra Cake
You Need:
- 300gms flour (maida)
- 300gms sugar
- 250 ml oil (preferably odourless)
- 130 ml warm milk
- 1tsp vanilla essence
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed Hintz cocoa powder)
- 4 eggs
Method:
1. Prepare a 9 inch round cake tin by greasing & dusting it with flour. You can also line it with parchment/butter paper.
2. In a large bowl beat the eggs & sugar till well incorporated (I always powder the granulated sugar in a dry grinder after measuring it).
3. Add the oil to the eggs & sugar mixture & mix till it is well incorporated. The original recipe required the milk (250ml) also to be added along with the oil – which actually makes the batter very runny & it is suggested to add extra flour which then makes the cake less sweet – so I add the milk after the flour has been incorporated and just about 130 ml is enough to achieve the right consistency which should neither be runny nor too thick. A runny batter will take slightly longer time to cook in the centre (fails the skewer test) hence the changes in the proportion of milk.
4. Sift the flour & baking powder and set aside – these are your dry ingredients
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in three parts – alternating between flour & milk. Add the milk upto the point till you get a creamy (but not runny) consistency. You can add more than 130ml of milk if required.
6. Divide this batter into two equal parts. I weighed the batter on a weighing scale & I divided it equally into 550gms each.
7. To one portion add the cocoa powder & mix well until incorporated. Leave the other as it is. So you get two different colours. See note below
8. Now you will need to measure 3 tbsps of batter each of (brown & white batter) and drop them into the baking dish. To make things easier & faster (as you need to work quickly), use a ladle which can exactly contain 3tbsp of batter. 3tbsp of batter per colour ensures your zebra stripes turn out just right in thickness. Ideally use separate spoons for the two batters as you want to avoid mixing of colours (I used an icecream scoop & another ladle – both measuring 3 tbsp)
9. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (I preheat my OTG to 8 minutes)
10. Scoop out a ladleful (of 3tbsp) of white batter & drop it in the centre of the dish. Quickly take the brown batter & place it in the centre of the white batter. Do not shake the tin – the batters will move by themselves. Alternate between with the two batters till everything is used up. You will get a beautiful design in a circular form.
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven & allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 10minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack & cool off completely.
13. Cut into pieces & serve – it is simply a delight to look at the beautiful design before munching it down to the last crumb!
Note: I have seen some cute & creative Zebra cakes with brown & pink stripes…so you can add a few drops of food colouring to the plain portion of batter. But it’s totally upto you.
When I began reading, I too thought it was a marble cake..:) Is it difficult to make??
Shir, I am sure you enjoyed baking and eating it just the way I did..
@May:It is a marble cake but with a twist 🙂 Its easy to make, you could check the recipe source (AZ Cookbook) which shows u the step by step process…u'll simply want to make it 🙂
@ Rink: I enjoyed making it…made it twice already:)
shireen m surly gonna try it this weekend…:) thanks dear
Great Shweta, tell me how it turns out 🙂
Perfect it has come out!
WOW! I am going to impress my husband with this cake design! Thanks for teaching this process 🙂
Hi Shireen, I tried this cake. It tasted YUMMM…. But the center cracked up. Is there any way to avoid this?
Rgds,
Asha Reddy
What (odourless) oil do you use?
Thanks,
Lisa
Hi Lisa, I usually use Borges, pure olive oil or extra light (refined) olive oil for my baking and grilling, it is odourless.
Sorry Asha Reddy, I completely missed to respond to your comment. I have tried the cake thrice and I am not sure what's causing the surface to crack up. Will revert when I get the answers 🙂
Thanks Shireen. Will give it a try.
I tried the butter cake and it was absolutely YUM…so was the soya chunks curry. I'm a novice at cooking, so your site is a godsend 🙂
Lisa
Thanks for your feedback Lisa! So glad to know that you liked the butter cake!! Thanks so much for your appreciation :))
Can you give us recipi how to make Goa sausages
@ Anonymous: I have not yet made Goan sausages at home, when I try it, I will definitely put up the recipe here
hi! this looks fantastic! will it still work if i halved all the ingredients? like 1/4 instead of 1/2 and 1 instead of 2? bc i want to make this so badly but i live alone and i don't want to make a huge cake and eat it all by myself and i don't want to eat a little bit and throw the rest.
thank you in advance!
@ Diam: Yes, it will work if you halve the ingredients too! You will just need a smaller pan like a 7" round pan should do! I totally understand your dilemma! When you crave for just a small piece you really don't want to make a huge cake! I hope this works!
It was fun making this cake. Not difficult at all. Came out good. I think a pinch of salt will add more flavour.
Super! Thanks for the tip! Glad you liked the cake
Came out wonderful. A little bit of salt will add more to the wonderful cake
That sounds great! Thanks for the wonderful feedback!