Trashy Marble Cake

The almost Little Cake

The marble cake and I are just not meant to be. I've tried three times to make a marble loaf or cake...and they all ended up visiting Mr. Trashcan.

Martha Stewart's Marbling Technique

The first two times, I tried making the Marble Loaf in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (also available online on her website). They have a cool way of layering the different cake batters into the loaf pan and marbling them together. The first time, I cooked the loaf for the minimum time listed (and used a very short toothpick that only tested the top half), and the bottom half was completely undercooked. The chocolate swirls stuck to the bottom of the loaf.

I don't know what happened the second time I tried to make the recipe. This time, I cooked it to the maximum time listed and checked it with the long skewer. It was cooked, but the chocolate still ended up at the bottom of the loaf. Also, the taste wasn't as rich as I wanted it to be. This recipe only calls for one stick of butter for the entire loaf and I recently made a pound cake that had two sticks of butter for the same size loaf. Yes, butter makes the world go round.

My final attempt at the marble cake was an actual small cake from the book Little Cakes by Susan Waggoner. However, this cake's meeting with Mr. Trashcan wasn't entirely my fault. I had physical therapy and follow-up doctor's visit in the morning. Last week I had the same two appointments and it went pretty quickly. The weather has cooled down a bit in Southern California so I brought the cake with me and left it in the car.

Just a small problem with this plan. There was a substitute doctor who was apparently taking full medical histories and spending lots and lots of time with each patient. Although I got there really early I knew I was in for a long wait when I counted 13 people in the waiting room. And more were coming in each minute.

I had no reading material and was in that position where you don't want to go to the car because you feel (false hope, it turns out) that they are going to call you at any moment. I was left with the dredges of the doctor's office reading pile. Everything was so old: Lindsay Lohan was sober. Star Jones still had some meat on her. And Britney wasn't AS freaky.

I arrived before 8 a.m. and got to work four hours later. Needless to say, I was not about to serve my melted buttercream topped cake to my co-workers. Hello, Mr. Trashcan!