Marble Cupcakes

It has certainly been a while. I have been baking a little, and the semester ended on Friday, so I actually have time make some updates. The first one is marble cupcakes.
This is a recipe my sister used a couple of times a few years ago. The recipe is actually for a loaf cake, but... well I don't know, I like cupcakes.

It all started with the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and soda, and salt.


Next I creamed together the butter and sugar...




until it was smooth.


And then added eggs and vanilla (not pictured).


This cake is interesting because it has sour cream in it.


But it's added in alternately with the flour mixture, which comes first.




When it was all smooth, I separated it into two bowls.


And added some cocoa to one bowl.




Then I scooped it in layers into my prepared tin.




Right out of the oven, the cupcakes had cute little domes.


But as they cooled it shrunk. Probably due to too little time in the oven.


But damn, they were still delicious.



These cupcakes were moist and the flavour was great. The chooclate was super chocolatey, but the vanilla was strong enough to not be overpowered by it! I didn't frost them; I think it would have masked the nice flavours in the cake. They stayed fresh for days, as well. I was very very pleased with the way they turned out. So if you're looking for a moist flavourful marble cake, this is it! I think it could also be fantastic to flavour the vanilla portion, perhaps with orange or mint. Mmm.

The recipe below is for the original loaf cake, but to make cupcakes is simple enough. I must have been distracted while I was making these, because I didn't note the baking time for the cupcakes. However, I think it would be safe to give them 15 minutes before checking on them (since they are so moist) and going from there. This could also be made into a round or square cake quite easily.

Recipe

Marble Loaf Cake

×××

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter/margarine
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

×××

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9" by 5" glass or metal loaf pan. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until blended. Increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl. Transfer half of batter to medium bowl. Add cocoa to batter remaining in large bowl and beat until blended. Alternately spoon vanilla and chocolate batters into pan. With a knife, cut and swirl through batters to create marbled effect. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Run knife around cake to loosen from sides of pan. Remove from pan to cool completely on rack.

Guten Appetit!