Marble Pound Cake with Icing

A round marble cake covered in marbled buttercream. A slice of the cake is cut out.

5 from 21 votes

An easy and moist homemade chocolate marble pound cake with icing. Learn how to make marble cake from scratch with this best-ever recipe!

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Decorating Time45

Total Time1 45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: Seven inches round cakes / Six inches square cakes

Calories: 10290.8kcal

Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

Cake

360 g self raising flour
360 g granulated sugar
360 g butter at room temperature
6 eggs at room temperature
100 ml milk
15 g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder

Marble Buttercream

300 g butter salted
600 g powdered sugar sifted
10 g cocoa powder sifted
2 tablespoon milk optional
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius. Grease and line two 7-inches round cake tins.
Mix cocoa powder with some milk to make a thin paste and leave aside.
In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In another separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the remaining milk, starting and ending with flour.
Finally add in vanilla extract and combine well.
Transfer ⅓ of the batter into a separate bowl and add the cocoa paste to it. Mix well.
Scoop the plain batter and chocolate batter alternately into 2 equal sized, well greased and floured cake tins.
Bake the cakes for approximately 40 to 45 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. The cakes are done when a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any wet batter.
Remove cakes from oven and let them cool completely before frosting and decorating.
Baking time may vary slightly for larger cakes.
To make the buttercream, cream butter in a large bowl. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until the buttercream turns fluffy. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
Remove a small amount of the buttercream into a separate bowl. Mix in the sifted cocoa powder. Add some milk if the icing is too stiff.
To assemble the cake, fill each cake layer with the plain buttercream. Use the remaining icing to cover the sides and top of the cake. Smooth the buttercream.
Use a spatula to spread the chocolate buttercream in random intervals on the sides and top fo the cake. Use an icing scraper to smooth the buttercream on the cake.
Use a palatte knife to create horizontal lines on the sides of the cake and circular patterns on the top of the cake.

Notes

Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour. To make 360g of self raising flour, add two and half teaspoons of baking powder (in addition to the amount of baking powder indicated in the recipe card) to 360g of all purpose flour. Mix both well and sift them three times before using.
To make a chocolate marble loaf cake, half the recipe below and bake the cake in an 8 inches by 4 inches loaf pan. Swirl the batter in the prepared loaf tin (greased and floured) in the same way as the round cake tin.
To make a marble bundt cake, half the recipe and bake the cake in a 6 cups capacity bundt tin at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Do not fill the cake tin with batter until full. Leave some space (about ⅓ of the tin height) for the cake to rise.
Buttercream can be replaced with other frosting of your choice like chocolate ganache or simple glaze drizzle.

Calculated Tin Sizes

6 inches round/ 5 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

240 g butter
240 g castor sugar
240 g self-raising flour
4 eggs
10 g unsweetened cocoa powder
65 ml milk
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder

8 inches round/ 7 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

480 g butter
480 g castor sugar
480 g self-raising flour
8 eggs
20 g unsweetened cocoa powder
135 ml milk
1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

9 inches round/ 8 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

600 g butter
600 g castor sugar
600 g self-raising flour
10 eggs
25 g unsweetened cocoa powder
165 ml milk
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder

10 inches round/ 9 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

720 g butter
720 g castor sugar
720 g self-raising flour
12 eggs
30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
200 ml milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

11 inches round/ 10 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

840 g butter
840 g castor sugar
840 g self-raising flour
14 eggs
35 g cocoa powder
235 ml milk
2 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder

12 inches round/ 11 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)

960 g butter
960 g castor sugar
960 g self-raising flour
16 eggs
40 g unsweetened cocoa powder
265 ml milk
2 ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder

Note:

Larger cakes may take a longer time to bake.
Use cake tins that are at least 3 inches high.

Nutrition