Brown Sugar Marble Pound Cake

This is my “accidental” brown sugar pound cake. You see, the first few times I baked it, I found the texture a little too dry. I revamped the recipe adding more brown sugar and replacing butter with oil. It turned out to be one of the best pound cake decisions in the world! The result is one intensely rich cake with a tight, dense crumb. The vanilla and chocolate batters are made from the same brown sugar base, so it’s an easy dessert to throw together. My favorite part is cutting into that first slice and unveiling the beautiful chocolate swirls!

Directions

Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Spray a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until combined. Whisk in the milk, oil, vanilla, and vanilla seeds. Set aside. In a large bowl, toss the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Do not overmix. Remove 1 cup of the batter and pour into a small bowl. Stir in the cocoa powder. Pour one-third of the vanilla batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spoon 1∕3 of the chocolate batter on top. Repeat until both batters are gone. Gently swirl a large knife through the batter, making rounded horizontal zig-zags from one side of the pan to the other. Wipe the excess batter from the knife. Repeat the swirling pattern in the opposite direction. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The loaf is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out practically clean with only a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack before removing and slicing. The cake will stay fresh, covered, at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Prep time: 15 minutes - Total time: 1 hour, 35 minutes - Makes: 1 pound cake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) milk
• 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean
• 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Sally McKenney is a baker, food photographer, blogger (sallysbakingaddiction.com), and the best-selling author of Sally’s Baking Addiction and Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Her kitchen-tested recipes and thorough step-by-step tutorials give readers the knowledge and confidence to bake from scratch. Sally has been featured onGood Morning America, HuffPost, Taste of Home, People, and more.