Marble cake


A marble cake is a cake with a streaked or mottled appearance achieved by very lightly blending light and dark batter. It can be a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, in which case it is mainly vanilla, with streaks of chocolate. Other possibilities are strawberry or other fruit flavors, or cinnamon or other spices.
The first print references to marble cake begin appearing in the last quarter of the 19th century. One popular variation of this recipe during Victorian times was “Harlequin cake,” which was baked with checkerboard patterns. Early recipes used molasses and spices to achieve the dark-colored batter.
The world's largest marble cake was made for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, for an episode on Turkmenistan's authoritarian president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. It was and featured an edible image of Berdimuhamedow falling off a horse, with a marble-textured frame and red trimmings. According to Oliver, Guinness World Records, which was criticized in the episode for its relations with authoritarian regimes, refused to certify the record unless the show signed a contract prohibiting it from criticizing the company. The cake was presented on 11 August 2019 and shared with the show's audience, with the remains having gone to City Harvest.