Marbled Loaf

A new recipe from this month's Recipes Plus magazine (August 2010). I have a ton of old cooking magazines and I can only justify buying new ones if I actually try out the recipes each month. G helped me cook it, she's learning to break eggs, which she does just by squeezing the eggs and pulling the shell out afterwards. It's not a great technique, but it is effective, even if it takes ages picking out the shell fragments afterwards...

Here's the recipe:

Marbled Loaf

Serves 10

150g butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup milk, plus 1 tablespoon extra

Few drops pink food colouring

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Chocolate Glaze (recipe to follow), to serve

2 tablespoons flaked almonds, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/ 160° fan forced.

Grease and line a 6cm deep, 19x9 cm (base measurement) loaf pan with baking paper, extending paper at long sides for handles.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until light and creamy. Add eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Transfer to a large bowl. Fold in sifted flour and 1/2 cup milk, in 2 batches.

3. Divide mixture evenly among 3 bowls. Tint 1 portion pink. Combine cocoa powder and extra milk in a small bowl; stir into another portion. Leave remaining portion plain. Drop alternate spoonfuls of the mixtures into prepared pan. Swirl with a skewer to marble; smooth surface.

4. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted at centre comes out clean. Remove from oven. Stand in pan for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Make Chocolate Glaze as recipe directs. Spread glaze over cooled loaf. Serve loaf sprinkled with almonds.

Chocolate Glaze

*Prepare glaze while cake is cooling. Makes enough for 1 loaf.

75g dark eating chocolate, chopped

40g butter, chopped

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

1/4 cup sour cream

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Cool slightly. Chill for 1 hour or until glaze thickens.

I didn't have any sour cream, so just used regular cream, which seemed to work OK. I put the glaze in the fridge, but then got distracted putting the girls to bed, and by the time I got back to it it had set solid. I nuked it in the microwave, and it was back to normal in no time, so that was a relief!

We haven't tasted it yet, it will be tomorrow morning's morning tea, only because we didn't finish icing it in time...