National Coffee Cake Day: Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake

Today is National Coffee Cake Day, and there are so many wonderful recipes for Chocolate Coffee Cake, Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake, and hey, lots of pound cakes are coffee cakes. Coffee cakes are sweet cakes usually meant to accompany coffee. They are usually single layer cakes, baked in loaf or bundt pans, but other shapes are fine. I just bought a square chiffon cake pan that I think will work with the following recipe, one of my favorites.

This recipe for Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake has a great  dense texture, and it will appeal to both chocolate and vanilla cake lovers--and it has coffee in it, so it's a perfect "Coffee Cake."  This recipe is adapted from Stephanie Jaworski's on Joy of Baking. If you're not familiar with her website, you should get acquainted. Lots of great recipes.


Chocolate Marble Coffee Cake

2 1/2 ounces 75-85% organic, fair-trade dark chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon brewed coffee or espresso
2 1/4 cups King Arthur cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Madagascar)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk

Marble Cake: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Butter a 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
2. In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the  chocolate with the coffee. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add beaten eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and sour cream.
5. With the mixer on low speed alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
6. After preparing the batter, pour half of the batter into a separate bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into one half of the batter, mixing well. Place the batter into the prepared pan by alternating spoons of vanilla batter and chocolate batter. Then, with a flat knife almost to the bottom of the pan, gently draw swirls (up, over and down) through the batter as your rotate the pan (if you're using a round bundt) to marbleize it. Don't over mix. Smooth the top of the batter.
7. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I think this cake is fine the way it is (not too sweet), but you can dust with powdered sugar, drip with a chocolate glaze or frost with a chocolate ganache.

This cake will keep for a couple of days at room temperature or it can be frozen.

No time to bake today?  Grab a slice of Starbucks: Marble Pound Cake to celebrate National Coffee Cake Day!

Photo: Starbucks Marble Pound Cake