Marble cake

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Marble cake
Marmorkuchen.jpg
TypeCake
Place of originGermany
Main ingredientsLight and dark batter

A marble cake (or Marmor) is a cake with a streaked or mottled appearance (like marble) achieved by very lightly blending light and dark batter.[1] It can be a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, in which case it is mainly vanilla, with streaks of chocolate. Other possibilities are strawberry or other fruit flavors, or (particularly in marbled coffee cakes) cinnamon or other spices.

Slices of marble cake

History[]

Marmor is the German or Yiddish word for marble. The idea of lightly mingling two different batters in one cake seems to have originated in early nineteenth century Germany.[2] The earliest version of marble cake consisted of a kugelhopf (sweet yeast bread), one half of which was colored with molasses and spices to achieve a dark colored batter.[3] Bakers next began to do the same thing with sponge cake batter.[2] The usage of chocolate in the Rhein-Ruhr area in the twentieth century has now made this a common version of marble cake across Germany and Austria.

The cake was brought to America shortly before the Civil War, and the term marble cake was first recorded in English in September 29, 1859 issue of Illinois State Chronicle (Decatur)[2] One popular variation of this recipe during Victorian times was “Harlequin cake,”[1] which was baked with checkerboard patterns.

World records[]

The world's largest marble cake is a 600-square-foot (56 m2) marble cake made for an episode of comedy series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, featuring an image of Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov falling off a horse during a horse race he participated in. It was submitted to Guinness World Records for the category of "largest cake with an image of someone falling off a horse", but was denied.[4][5][6] Oliver insisted on his show that this was because Guinness asked them to sign a non-disparagement agreement, but Guinness later claimed the record was denied due to a policy against records which belittle other record-holders or subject them to ridicule. Guinness also pointed out that Oliver had not specifically requested the record for the largest marble cake.[7] The Guinness World Record for the largest marble cake is a 160-square-foot (15 m2) cake, awarded to Betty Crocker in Saudi Arabia.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Olver, Lynne (23 January 2015). "Marble cake". The Food Timeline. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Marks, Gil (2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish food. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6. OCLC 849738985.
  3. ^ Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor (Oxford University Press: New York) 2004 [2007], Volume 1 (p. 162)[ISBN missing]
  4. ^ "John Oliver Bakes Very Large Cake to Annoy Turkmenistan". Time. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  5. ^ "John Oliver's Turkmenistan segment takes a turn with a very massive cake". EW.com. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  6. ^ "John Oliver batters Guinness World Records' cozy relationship with stunt-happy dictators". News. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  7. ^ "Guinness World Records on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver". GuinnessWorldRecords. GuinnessWorldRecords. 11 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Largest marble cake". GuinnessWorldRecords. GuinnessWorldRecords. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.

External links[]

  • Sax, Richard (2000). "Lemon-Molasses Marble Cake". Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 340. ISBN 0-618-00391-6. OCLC 43721945. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
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