Thursday, April 7, 2011

Lemon molasses marble cake - a cake with a workout

Lemon molasses marble cake / Bolo mármore de limão siciliano e melado

This cake was the first recipe I tried from this book, which is full of amazing recipes and perfect for a sweet tooth like me; lemon cake, no surprise there, but the idea of marbling it with a molasses cake sounded too good not to try.

Indeed the flavor combo is delicious and the cake is very tender; do not be put off by the different steps of preparation – think of them as a great workout, which will allow you to have an extra cake slice at the end. :)

And don’t forget to nominate your favorite blog on Saveur’s 2011 Food Blog Awards! ;)

Lemon molasses marble cake
slightly adapted from the delicious Classic Home Desserts

Molasses batter:
1 2/3 cups (233g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (60g) light or dark brown sugar, packed
3 large egg yolks
¾ cup (180ml) molasses
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (105g) plain yogurt

Lemon batter:
1 2/3 cups (233g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup (195g) plain yogurt
3 large egg whites
pinch of salt

confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 22-25cm (9-10in) Bundt or tube pan.
Start by making the molasses batter: sift the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves into a small bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until very light. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then beat in the molasses. Add the sifted ingredients to the batter alternately with the yogurt, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
Now, make the lemon batter: sift the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar into a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and lemon zest until very light. Add the lemon juice. Add the sifted ingredients to the batter alternately with the yogurt, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Beat the egg whites with the salt until nearly stiff. Gently fold into the lemon batter.
Drop 3-4 large dollops of the lemon batter into the prepared pan. Top with 3-4 dollops of the molasses batter (give it a nice stir for it was sitting around while you were making the lemon batter). Continue layering the batters. With a butter knife, swirl the batters together a couple of times to get the marbled effect – don’t mix them much.
Bake for about 1 hour or until the cake is risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan over a wire rack for 20 minutes, and then carefully unmold it onto the rack. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar to serve.

Serves about 12 – I made 2/3 of the recipe above and used an 8-cup capacity ring pan

15 comments:

DessertForTwo said...

You are my nomination for sure! Your recipes and photography are so inspirational :)

Sips and Spoonfuls said...

This looks rather delicious. Don't think I've eaten a cake with molasses in it. Yum :)

Sarah said...

You always have some of the best flavor combos!

Aleida said...

I think I'm in the same boat as Lick My Spoon in terms of never having tried a cake with molasses in it. I can imagine that it would be extremely sweet, maybe even a little too sweet for my tastes.

Maria said...

This is truly gorgeous and I'm really loving all the spices in there!

Min {Honest Vanilla} said...

Cake with a workout ;) Nice! Lemon and all those spices sound really wonderful!

Rivki Locker said...

Love the title of this post. What a positive way to think about all the effort that goes into making this. It does look wonderful. I'll have to check out the cookbook!

Manderley de GuindillayCanela said...

Excelent, I like this cake

xo

Anonymous said...

What a great combination of flavors! I love lemon and brown sugar, so I bet molasses is amazing as well. How dare you tempt me with another cookbook? Haha

Jan said...

lemon sauce with any type of molasses cake is always welcome, so I imagine this marble cake must be wonderful!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

Very pretty, Patricia. And I always love the tartness of lemon.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Dessert for Two, thank you! You are far too kind.
xx

Lick my Spoon, thank you for stopping by! I hope you give this a go!

Sarah, you are so sweet, darling! Thank you!
xx

Aleida, I hope you give it a go - in this cake it's not too sweet.

Maria, thank you! I love spices, too!

Min, thank you, sweetie!
xx

Rivki, thank you for stopping by! That cookbook is a keeper!

Manderley, thank you!

Carly, thank you! Sorry about the cookbook, I'm a cookbook junkie! :D

Jan, thank you for stopping by!

Xiaoly, me too, sweetie. :D

susan said...

voted!

Suzette said...

I know this was posted a while ago but I just wanted to let you know that I made this cake yesterday and it was awesome! I thought the lemon part needed more lemon so I added some lemon extract and a lemon glaze on top.

Thank you so much for posting this! If you like these flavors I recommend making an ice cream sandwich with chewy gingersnaps or molasses cookies and lemon sorbet.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Suzette, thank YOU for letting me know how the recipe turned out! I'm so glad to hear you liked the cake! Tks for the ice cream sandwich idea, too (yum!).
xx

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