Zebra Cake

I found this great blog called AZ Cookbook, Food from Azerbaijan & Beyond. There is a cake which is well known in Eastern Europe called Zebra Cake. I think it is traditionally served with hot tea or coffee. YUM! It is called a zebra cake because of the beautiful pattern you create with the cake batter:

 I LOVE the look of the cake so I thought I would try and do my own version. The recipe calls for a white and cocoa cake but I wanted to make mine with the two contrasting colors of blue and white. It is a really simple concept to do and ends up being gorgeous. I thought that I might have trouble because I was not following the recipe and using the thicker cocoa batter. I just added color to the white batter. Anyways, I followed the directions on how to make the pattern. The only downside to doing this recipe is you CANNOT tap your cap pan to make the batter level lest you ruin the pattern. Being a perfectionist, how can I NOT tap the pan?! It took great resolve on my part to not do it! I ended up with a bit of a dome on top but I just trimmed that right off. I normally have to trim a cake anyways before I torte it so it is not a big deal. Peanut loved eating the scraps too Here is what I did:

1. Divide the cake batter in half. Color the cake batter two different colors. Mix well.

2. Using a 1/4 cup, scoop and pour alternating batters into prepared cake pan.

3. DO NOT TAP YOUR PAN or SPREAD BATTER It will spread on its own. Keep alternating colors until you are finished with all of your batter:

4. Bake according to cake and pan directions. You can have the cake as is and get the awesome zebra pattern. I torted (is that a word?) the cake since I want to add a frosting layer in between. LOOK:

Isn’t that cool? I think it is a very neat twist on the traditional marble cake. I want to make another one and not torte it to see the effect. The best part will be cutting into the cake to see the very cool design! The inspiration was wholly from AZ Cookbook and the Zebra Cake. I plan on making fondant for the cake and finish decorating it soon. I will show it when I am finished