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Chocolate & raspberry zebra cake

By Sarah Cook

Childhood favourite, the marble cake, gets an update where precision results in a uniformly stripy sponge

Prep:40 mins
Cook:1 hrs 5 mins

More effort

Nutrition per serving

kcal 700
fat 41g
saturates 11g
carbs 73g
sugars 40g
fibre 2g
protein 10g
salt 0.7g

Ingredients

vegetable oil, for greasing
150ml pot raspberry yogurt
150ml vegetable oil
100g frozen raspberries, defrosted
200g self-raising flour, plus an extra 5 tbsp
140g caster sugar
2 large eggs
artificial pink food colouring
200g self-raising flour
140g caster sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 large eggs
150ml pot natural yogurt
150ml vegetable oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
200ml pot double cream
100g seedless raspberry jam
100g bar dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Tip

Consistency is key!
The batters have to be as similar in consistency as possible - so if too much colouring loosens one, either thicken it with a tablespoon of flour or add a splash of milk to the other to compensate.Secrets of success
Speed is the key, so don’t be afraid to sacrifice a little accuracy when filling the tin. The slower you dollop in the batters, the more chance they’ll have to spread, and you might end up with a stack of pancakes rather than a swirly zebra!

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of a deep 22cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
To make the raspberry sponge, put the yogurt, oil and raspberries in a food processor or blender, and whizz until well blended. Sieve, to remove the seeds, into a measuring jug, until you reach 300ml. Discard the rest.
From now, make the 2 cakes simultaneously. In 2 mixing bowls, separately mix the dry ingredients, plus a pinch of salt, for the raspberry and chocolate sponges. Crack in the eggs, then add the yogurt, oil and vanilla extract to the chocolate one, and the measured raspberry mixture to the other. Beat each with an electric whisk until smooth, cleaning whisks between bowls. Quickly stir some pink food colouring into the raspberry batter, to give a strong colour – a good cherry pink works well.
Sit the cake tin in front of you and a bowl of cake batter to each side – you need to work quickly and smoothly for the next bit, so make sure your oven is hot and racks are in the right place. Using 2 x ½ cup measurers, or 2 similar ladles or serving spoons, spoon 1 measure (about 150ml) of the chocolate batter into the very centre of the prepared cake tin. Don’t wait for it to settle or spread, quickly top with the same measure of raspberry mixture, right in the middle (see Secrets of success, below). Repeat alternating batters, without pausing, until all the mixes are finished, then put straight in the oven.
Bake for 1 hr until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean – keep an eye on it though, you may want to loosely cover with parchment after 45 mins if the cake is looking dark (the top will be cracked). Cool in the tin.
To decorate, put the cream and raspberry jam in a pan, and bring nearly to the boil, stirring to melt the jam. Take off the heat, tip in the chocolate and leave until melted. Stir together until smooth. When thick enough to spread, remove the cake from the tin and swirl the chocolate icing all over the top.