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Marble Cake Recipe
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
 
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: birthday cake recipe, chocolate vanilla cake recipe
Servings: 14 servings
Author: Jackie
Ingredients
Cake:
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate chopped and melted (not chocolate chips)
Chocolate Buttercream:
Instructions
Cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside for now.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 – 4 minutes).
  4. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract until well mixed.
  5. Add ½ the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir with spatula just until combined.
  6. Add in all the buttermilk and stir with spatula until mixed.
  7. Add in the last ½ of the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Do not overmix.
  8. Remove 1 cup of the cake batter and put in a separate small bowl. Add the melted chocolate to that separate small bowl and stir to mix completely.
  9. Line the bottoms of two 8” round cake pans with parchment paper. Spray insides of cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.
  10. Pour half the white mixture into each of the two 8” cake pans. If you can, use a scale to make sure you add the same amount of batter to each.
  11. Drop tablespoons of the chocolate mixture into both the 8” pans and use a table knife to swirl the chocolate mixture into the white mixture. Don’t stir completely in (you don’t want the whole cake to be chocolate) – just lightly swirl the two together.
  12. Bake for 30 minutes then test with toothpick to see if when inserted in the middle it still has batter stuck to it. If so, lightly cover pans with aluminum foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes until middles of cakes are set.
  13. Let cool completely before frosting.
  14. Before layering the cake, cut off the top domes to the cakes so you have two flat layers. A serrated knife works best for this.
Chocolate Buttercream:
  1. Beat all ingredients together (on high) until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
  2. Frost cooled cake by frosting the bottom layer first, then add the second layer on top (the second top layer should have the bottom of the cake facing up as it will be the more flat side) and cover the whole cake in chocolate frosting. If you want a smoother look to the cake, use an icing scraper to smooth the icing on the sides and top.
Recipe Notes

Can I bake this as a single layer 9 x 13 cake instead?

Yes, but the baking time (start checking the cake at 25 minutes) will vary and you’ll likely need only half the amount of chocolate buttercream.

Can this be made into a 3-layer cake?

Yes but you’ll need to use smaller diameter cake pans like 6” pans. This will also alter the baking time so start checking the cakes at 25 minutes.

Can I skip the parchment paper lining on the bottom and just use extra non-stick cooking spray?

No, the parchment paper is highly recommended so the cake doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. You’ll still use non-stick cooking spray inside both pans but over top of the parchment paper lining on the bottom.