Mike had a busy day today. As well as sorting the twins’ bedroom in preparation for decorating within the whole 11 days we have left until Baby #13 arrives, tag-teaming me in dealing with the kids and watching the rugby, he also made a delicious Valentine Marble Cake just for me.
Yes, I do know how lucky I am.
The cake was delicious. The velvety sweetness of the chocolate perfectly offset the sharpness of the forest fruit which decorated it.
As a thank you to him, I stole his recipe and am sharing it with you.
I like to think that it’s a way of showing appreciation.
Valentine Marble Cake
(Serves 10-12)
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
225g butter softened at room temperature
225g caster sugar
150g plain chocolate
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pack chocolate Snip’n’Swirl Icing by Renshaw Baking
500g mixed red fruit (strawberries, cherries, raspberries, cranberries etc)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, or 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 if using a fan oven.
Grease a 9″ round baking tin.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract to the mixture and continue mixing, increasing the light, fluffy texture.
Add flour and mix thoroughly until all lumps have dispersed, leaving a lovely, smooth mixture.
Divide the mixture into two bowls.
Melt the chocolate over a bain marie, then add to one of the bowls of cake mixture, stirring it in well.
Spoon mixture from each of the bowls into the cake tin a couple of dollops at a time. Don’t worry about being too precise at all. Random dollops work best!
Drag the end of a wooden spoon through the mixture creating swirls as you go. Don’t overdo it or you’ll end up mixing the mixture together.
Gently smooth the top of the mixture, then place into the oven and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. You’ll know your cake is ready when the centre springs back after pressing into it gently, and when a clean knife inserted into the centre comes out clean with no mixture sticking to it.
Place the cake still in its tin upon a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes to begin cooling.
Remove the cake from the tin and allow to cool completely.
Once completely cooled cover with the Chocolate Snip-n’Swirl icing and smooth out as much as possible.
Finally, create a heart shape in the centre of the top of the cake with the fruit.
Enjoy!
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