Marble Birthday Cake

5 from 6 votes

This Marble Birthday Cake is the perfect cake for chocolate and vanilla lover's alike! It's a soft vanilla and chocolate marbled cake with alternating vanilla and chocolate frosting! The batter is super simple to make, no mixer required and best yet, it's gluten free, nut free, eggless and easily vegan!

Prep Time1 30

Cook Time40

Chill Time15

Total Time2 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Servings: slices

Calories: 795kcal

Author: Lee

Ingredients

For The Marble Cake Recipe

2 ¼ cups gluten free flour (I use a gluten free multipurpose flour with xanthan gum already in it)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons milk , keep the 2 tablespoons separate
½ cup light brown sugar , packed
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup cocoa powder (I use 2 tablespoons natural unsweetened or dutch and 2 tablespoons dark)
¼ cup chocolate and white sprinkles for decorating , if desired
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

For The Vanilla Frosting

½ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick, room temperature
4 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup water room temperature (you may not use it all)

For the Chocolate Frosting

¾ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick, room temperature
3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup cocoa powder (I use ½ cup natural unsweetened or dutch and ½ cup dark)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup water room temperature (you may not use it all)

For The Chocolate Ganache

6 oz chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For The Marble Cake Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease and line two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the 2 ¼ cups multipurpose gluten free flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 ¾ cups milk, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon white vinegar and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.
Slowly add the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. It if gets too thick, switch to a spatula but it should be fairly liquidy.
This recipe makes around 4 cups of batter. Take about 2 cups of batter and put it in a separate bowl.
In one of the bowls of batter, add in the ¼ cup of cocoa powder and the 2 remaining 2 tablespoons milk. Mix with a spatula until combined. It will be thick.
Divide the vanilla batter into 2 equal halves. Divide the chocolate batter into 2 equal halves.
Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, put one scoop or one large tablespoon of batter in each cake tin. Repeat with the other batter flavor. Then, alternate back and forth with the batters.
You want half the vanilla batter and half the chocolate batter to go in one cake tin and the other halves to go in the other. Once done, smooth the tops of the batter with a butter knife.
Bake the cakes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until the vanilla tops of the cakes are golden brown and spring back at you when carefully touched or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove cakes from the oven and let them cool in the cake pans almost completely.
Once the cakes have cooled completely, if the tops of your cakes have domes, you can very carefully slice them off to make the tops flat.

For The Vanilla Frosting

In the large bowl of an electric mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the ½ cup unsalted butter until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
With the mixer on very low speed, slowly add in the 4 ½ cups confectioners' sugar and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
While the mixer is on, slowly add in the ¼ cup water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency. You may not need to use all the water.

For the Chocolate Frosting

In the large bowl of an electric mixer or using a hand held mixer, beat the ¾ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick until smooth and creamy. About 2 minutes.
With the mixer on very low speed, slowly add in the 3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar, the 1 cup of the cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
While the mixer is on, slowly add in the ½ cup room temperature water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency. You may not need to use all the water.

Assemble the Cake

Put the vanilla frosting into a piping bag and the chocolate frosting into another piping bag.
Place one layer of cake on a cake plate/stand. Pick a flavor of frosting. I started with the chocolate.
Pipe a ring of chocolate frosting around the edge of the top of the cake. Then pipe a vanilla ring. Repeat this process until you reach the center of the cake. It will look like a bullseye.
(See blog post above for pictures).
Place another layer of cake on top; repeat this same process. Do this with 3 layers of cake.
Once you get to the last layer of cake, place it bottom (or flat) side up so the top of the cake is nice and flat.
Frost a thin layer of cake on the top. It doesn't matter which flavor because we will be covering it with ganache.
Take your vanilla frosting and pipe a ring going all the way around the side of the cake, in the middle of the cake, where the two cakes meet.
Then pipe a ring of chocolate frosting above and below the vanilla, going all the way around the cake.
Next, take a cake scraper or a large icing spatula and scrape the frosting all the way around the cake so it blends. It should be a thin layer.
See pictures in the post.
Pop the entire cake in the fridge, uncovered. for 15-20 minutes. This will make it more stable to work with.

For The Chocolate Ganache and Decorate

Place the 6 ounces chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl. Set aside.
Pour the ½ cup heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it begins to simmer around the edges, immediately pour the cream over the chocolate chips. Do not mix!
Cover with plastic and let sit 1.5 minutes. Then remove plastic and whisk until smooth.
Immediately take the cake out of the fridge. Spoon almost all the liquid ganache on top of the cake.
Take an icing spatula and push the ganache around to the edges of the cake so it drips down the sides.
Work quickly because the cold cake will quickly stop the ganache from dripping too much.
Pipe swirls all around the edge of the outside of the top of the cake. Doesn't matter which flavor.
Top with mini chocolate chips and chocolate and white sprinkles and nonpareils.

Notes

Vegan: Use a dairy-free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks, non-dairy milk, vegan heavy cream and vegan chocolate chips and sprinkles.

If you can't find a vegan heavy cream, check my section entitled "substitutions and variations" for how to make a vegan chocolate ganache with vegan baking sticks.

All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 2 ¼ cups packed AP flour (378 grams) and only 1 ½ cups of milk in the batter.

Storing: Store extra slices wrapped in foil in the fridge for up to 2 days.

When ready to eat, let the slices sit on the counter, in the foil for about an hour or until the cake is room temperature and soft. If desired, warm each slice in the microwave for 5-10 seconds; be careful not to burn your mouth.

Freezing: Freeze extra slices wrapped in foil in a zip top bag for up to 30 days.

When ready to eat, put the slices in the fridge the night before or leave them out on the counter for 2 hours prior to eating or until the cake is room temperature and soft. If desired, warm each slice in the microwave for 5-10 seconds; be careful not to burn your mouth.

Nutrition: The info below is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Nutrition