Moist & Tender Marble Cake... again

I made the moist & tender marble cake again... this time it's for lunch at the in-law's on Sunday. Had decided to bake it only in the morning after making some karipap bai. Made 3 changes for this cake.. made it with less chocolate batter, replaced the sour cream with greek yogurt & baked it in a square pan. It was a hit with the family... I promise you I'll be baking this again & again...

Moist & Tender Marble Cake

Ingredients:
2½ cups (8.7oz/ 250g) cake flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder - I used double-acting baking powder.
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (6.4oz, 181g) greek yogurt, at room temperature
¼ cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup (8oz, 227g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1½ cups (10½oz, 300g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (1½ tablespoons if using imitation vanilla extract)

Method:

1. Adjust the oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
2. Butter and line a square baking pan. (I used a 9x9-inch pan.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a liquid measuring cup (or a small bowl), whisk together the yogurt and milk. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl and an electric hand mixer), beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, ribbon-like and slightly lightened up; 2 to 3 minutes.
5. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, gradually add in the sugar. Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating together until lightened up in both colour and texture; 4 to 5 minutes. The colour should turn very pale (almost white) and texture should look fluffy.
6. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla and beat together for one minute.
7. On lowest speed, add in one-third of the flour mixture and mix until mostly combined. Add in half of the sour cream/milk mixture and lightly stir until almost mixed in. Continue with adding another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining sour cream and ending with the last third of flour mixture. Mix until just combined and a smooth batter forms. Do not overmix. With a rubber spatula, give the batter one good, final stir to make sure that everything is well incorporated.
8. Remove 1½ cups of the batter from the bowl & mix with the chocolate paste (recipe below).
9. To create the marble effect, start by filling the bottom of the pan with vanilla cake batter, followed by the chocolate batter. Continue pouring in alternate pattern. Finally, you may use a butter knife and swirl the batter in an 'S' shaped motion, but don't over do it. (I did not swirl the batter.)
10. Bake in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the center springs back to the touch and a skewer inserted down the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist but cooked crumbs attached.
11. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve plain or dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate ganache glaze if you prefer.

CHOCOLATE PASTE FOR THE CHOCOLATE BATTER
Ingredients:
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (30g/ 1⅛oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon (1/2 oz, 15g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon baking soda

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the milk, butter and sugar and heat in the microwave until the butter has melted. Whisk to dissolve the sugar. 
2. Add in the cocoa powder and stir really well until there are no lumps and a very thick chocolate paste forms. Add in the baking soda and stir again.
3. Take a few tablespoons from the reserved vanilla cake batter and stir really well into the chocolate paste to lighten it up. Add the remaining reserved cake batter into the chocolate mixture and fold until evenly incorporated and no light streaks remain.

Recipe by Tasbih of Cleobuttera.

The karipap bai....