Zebra Cake - Work of Art

Sweets are my weakness or should I say strength ;) I adore them. And that is how I put on weight!! :(  Still, I don't want to call them my weakness. :) I love all kinds of sweets ranging from cakes to chocolates to Indian mithai to Turkish Baklava and the list never ends.. :D phew!

Guess I got if from mum. She loves sweets. hi hi And enjoys making all kinds of sweet dishes. She is the one who taught me the secret of making the perfect Caramel Pudding, pink colored Pal Payasam (Indian-Kerala cuisine) and lot more. We used to bake cakes too. Mmm.. I am dropping into a deja vù. Right!!! I am back!! :)

I was in the mood of baking a cake and that too something different, something that I have not tried before. As always, I started blog hopping and landed on Farida's (AZ Cookbook) blog. She is an awesome foodie blogger, hailing from Azerbaijan's Baku, currently residing in the U.S. And I have to tell that you folks out there will love her both Azerbaijani and Non-Azerbaijani dishes. Check it out :)

I found the recipe for the Zebra Cake in her blog. Its called Zebra coz of the stripes that resemble the skin of the zebra :) I know that I do not have to explain this! Still ;)

Ingredients

• Eggs - 4
• Sugar, granulated - 1 C
• Milk - 1 C
• Oil/Butter - 1 C
• All-purpose flour - 2 C
• Vanilla essence/powder - 1/4 t
• Baking powder - 1 T
• Cocoa powder - 2 T

Method

• Add eggs and sugar into a mixing bowl.
• Whisk them till they turn creamy and without lumps.
• Add milk and oil, and continue mixing till they blend well.
• In another bowl, mix all-purpose flour, vanilla essence and baking powder.
• Slowly add this  flour mixture to the previous eggs mixture and beat well.
• Continue whisking till the batter turns smooth.
• Make sure that the consistency is correct. i.e, it should be neither very thick nor too loose. If you feel that the mixture is too thin add some more flour.
• Divide the batter into 2 equal portions.
• Keeping one portion as it is, add cocoa powder to the other portion and mix well.
• Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
• Grease the baking pan with oil or butter and keep aside.

Assembling the cake

• Scoop 3 T of plain batter and pour into the middle of the greased baking pan.
• Now scoop 3 T of the cocoa batter and pour it on the center  (on top) of the plain batter.
• Again scoop 3 T of plain batter and pour it on the center (on top) of the cocoa batter.
• Continue this process till both the batter is over.
• Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.
• To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick to the center.
• If it comes out clean, your cake is perfect. :)
• Now you can remove the cake from the oven.
• Use a knife and run it around the cake to loosen it from the pan and invert.
• Invert it back to normal and allow to cool.
• Like Farida told, you can sprinkle some sugar on the cake if you like. I did not, I like it less sweet. :D Lesser calories! ;)

Things to remember 

• Do not wait for the batter to spread or move the pan and disturb the mix.
• The batter will spread by itself when you pour the second scoop on top of the first one and so on.
• Farida's advice (I agree, totally) - Do not open the oven door at least for the first 20 minutes or the cake will shrink and will not rise.

Try it out friends! You are gonna love it. And feel like a great baker. I did. :D