My Dad’s favourite marble cake (gluten-free and vegan)

My Danish great-grandmother, Margareta Petersen, was the best baker in the world (according to my Dad). Baking during and shortly after WWII wasn’t an ordinary weekend task like it is for me today. Neither was it easy to get all the ingredients. 

My great-grandparents were lucky, though, as they had their own garden, their own chickens and an uncle who worked in a mill. The uncle brought my great-grandmother huge bags of flour now and then, which was a win-win situation for both as he got to take the yummiest cakes, Danish butter cookies and cinnamon swirls home and my great-grandparents had flour. 

My Dad grew up with his beloved grandpa Jorgen and grandma Margareta (since his father went missing during WWII and his mother focused on finding a new husband) and he loved the weekends when his grandma would start baking and he was allowed to help. 

That love for baking has survived until today and as I wanted to keep him busy and motivated during all these lockdowns, we started ‘veganising’ his favourite sweet treats and his grandma’s recipes. 

While we’re still failing more often than we’re succeeding at veganising, here’s the recipe for the gluten-free vegan marble cake you’ve been asking for on instagram (that’s one we’ve been very successful with, just so you know). 

To get the marble look, I make two batters and carefully fold them into each other while keeping them separate.

Ingredients:

110g glutenfree flour (I use Doves Farm) for the light colour batter 

90g glutenfree flour for the chocolate colour batter 

1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda for each batter (if not using self-raising flour)

For the chocolate batter: 2-3 tbsp cacao powder

40ml non-dairy milk (I use rice milk) in each batter 

60ml sunflower oil or (melted) coconut oil in each batter 

1 flax egg or chia egg in each batter (if you don’t have any of it and like the taste of banana, use a mashed banana instead) 

50-75ml maple syrup in each batter (depends on how sweet you like your cake)

I like to add 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract to the light batter but that’s just an add on 

First of all, mix the flax/chia egg and set aside to thicken while you prepare the rest. 

Sieve the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together and then combine them. Remember to make two different batters for the marble cake. 

Add both batters, one at a time, into your baking tin (a 2lb loaf tin should work well here, I used my Dad’s old special baking tin). I usually start with the light batter and then add the chocolate batter second. Take a skewer and swirl it through the mixture to create the marble effect. 

Bake for about 40 mins, 180 °C fan until skewer comes out clean. 

Enjoy :) 

Etta