Chocolate and vanilla marble madeira bundt

  

I’ve had my square bundt tin for a while now and have frequently stopped to admire it, even giving it an appreciative pat every now and then (you think I’m joking……!).  What I haven’t done with it is bake.  Realising that this could not continue I decided to pick a simple cake that required no icing as I wanted to showcase the beauty of the tin.

The cake is based on the madeira cake recipe on the BBC Good Food website.  I find denser crumbed sponges work better in bundt tins than lighter ones and also retain better definition when baked, which is important when using a finely detailed tin.

Like a more domesticated Sir Mix-A-Lot, I like big bundts and I cannot lie (I may have made this joke before, apologies if I have, but it still made me laugh).  This is a 10 cup capacity bundt...it’s a big one!

I decided to make the sponges separately as it’s a big cake and wanted to avoid worrying about whether I’d divided the creamed mixture evenly; I know you can weigh it to ensure evenness but I couldn’t be bothered.  When the batter is quick to make like this one, there is no detriment to one batter sitting to one side and waiting for its compadre to be born.

For those who watch the Great British Bake Off, I am pleased to report that I got a crack on the top of my Madeira.  Sadly, being a bundt, this became the bottom on turning out so the world at large never got to see my glorious crack!

Ingredients

For the chocolate sponge:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon chocolate extract - optional
170g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
50g ground almonds

For the vanilla sponge:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
50g ground almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/fan oven 150C/340F/gas mark 3.

Generously grease a large bundt tin – I used cake release spray.

Start by making the chocolate sponge: beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy.  Don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the chocolate extract, if using.

Beat in the flour, cocoa powder and ground almonds.

Put to one side.

Now make the vanilla sponge following the same method but using vanilla extract instead of chocolate, and the adjusted amount of flour (it will be more in the vanilla cake – per the ingredients above – as there is no cocoa).

Spoon the batters alternately into the tin, then use a skewer to swirl them together.

Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before taking a bread knife (or other big knife) and levelling the top – I use the tin as a guide. This will ensure the base will be level when you turn it out.

Turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve in generous slices.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.