Marble Cake: Holistic, Organic Baking

I’ve said it before and I will say it again… I’m a kitchen goddess! I may not always love to cook, but I love eating.  I love pretty food. Those pretty foods and pastries aren’t the best choices.

My home always had “alternative” foods. Recipes are guidelines. Ingredients could be tweaked. Some fellow students, when I was getting my degree, were professional bakers. They said “I know I am using all the bad foods.” I responded with using whole cane sugar, organic flours, and making changes to improve the content. I could just see the “Whaaaat?” reaction. We are so conditioned to the white, bleached baking ingredients. This is true even for any other recipe. Granted, the bakery customers may not be too keen on a denser, more-filling, complex flavor pastry. Then again, maybe it would draw in a different crowd.

[Side note: When my mom had environmental illness and a limited diet, she got creative. She even used stevia as a sweetener in the early 90s. Not the granulated stuff you can buy at the grocery store now. Oh, no. This stevia was green. And spelt. Spelt flour. Don’t even get me started on my aversion to her cooking carob. Carob is not my jam.]

This year, again, I made my own birthday cake. My style is clean, organic, and ancestral in varied degrees. I will tell anyone to make the recipe as it SUITS YOU.  With some creativity and willingness to experiment, you can make it gluten-free, egg-free, or dairy-free.

Marble cake- for when your reaction to vanilla or chocolate is “Yes.”

This is a recipe I adapted from one with the “standard” American baking ingredients.

Line a 9 inch square baking pan (2 inches deep) with baking parchment.
Heat oven at 350 F degrees.

The parts:

1 2/3 cups flour: I use a mix of organic all-purpose, organic pastry flour, and sprouted wheat flour (digested more like a vegetable than a grain).  Sprouted is usually just over 1/3 cup.

½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon Redmond Real Salt (I don’t use white salt either)

½ cup unsalted butter, melted on the stove – I don’t eat microwaved food or own a microwave, and preferably organic and/or grass-fed

1 cup granulated evaporated cane sugar, slightly under-filled. I under-fill to help reduce sugar content. As you get acclaimed to the play of flavors, the taste for sugar reduces.  I like Sucanat as a portion of some baked goods, but did not use for this recipe.

2 large eggs, organic

¼ cup whole sour cream, no fillers or thickeners. I am into Daisy.

¾ cup whole cultured buttermilk + 1 Tablespoon, divided (The Tbsp. is for the chocolate batter)

2 teaspoons of organic vanilla extract

¼ cup unsweetened organic cocoa powder. I use a small portion of organic black cocoa in that ¼ cup and then layer organic Dutch-processed and organic non-alkalized cocoa. The non-alkalized has more antioxidants and a complex flavor profile.

I am going to put the basics here so you can read it without my notes.

Cake Recipe Ingredients –minus the opinions:

1 2/3 cups flour

½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon Redmond Real Salt

½ cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled (not hot).

1 cup granulated evaporated cane sugar, slightly under-filled

2 large eggs, organic

¼ cup whole sour cream, no fillers or thickeners.

¾ cup whole cultured buttermilk + 1 Tablespoon, divided

2 teaspoons of organic vanilla extract

¼ cup unsweetened organic cocoa powder.

Heat oven at 350 F.  In a bowl, mix your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Melt the butter in a pot on the stove; don’t boil or burn. Have the sugar in your intended mixing bowl. Add the butter and combine.  Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.  Add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the dry ingredients. I like to alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients until they are all in there. Mix until ever just combined after each addition. Beat the batter until lumps look like they are gone.

The batter has a tendency to be thick. Transfer the vanilla batter to the baking pan. LEAVE about ¾ cup of batter in the bowl, this is the chocolate base.
Add the cocoa powder and the tablespoon of buttermilk. This can make an even thicker batter than the vanilla. If you really need to, add a few more drops of buttermilk. Sometimes batter needs more liquid, like in dry conditions. My batter, when I photographed, became beautiful and fluffy due to the buttermilk.

Dollop the chocolate over the vanilla batter.    I take my butter knife and a spoon and do swirls. From here, I let it set for a minute or so to allow the ingredients to activate.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test with a toothpick to make sure it is baked through.

As my topping, I like a sweetened crème fraiche, whipped cream, or just a naked cake.

*Links are affiliated. You can get some of them at a discount through me- I have a wholesale account with a natural products co-op.

I welcome questions and comments.
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~Dréa