My not so "marbly" Marble Cake...

Alright, so I decided to attempt a chocolate/vanilla marble cake last night. The reason being, it is my boyfriend's absolute favorite kind of cake and his birthday is in May. Hmm.. practice makes perfect, right? Better start now! Turns out that was a good call because my marble cake didn't turn out so "marbly". It tasted great, though. It was just more of a "vanilla on the bottom and chocolate on the top" kind of cake.. haha. Also, the original recipe was good, but I thought a little sloppy. Now this is coming from a new-to-the-scene baker, so don't take my word for it or anything, but it worked for me. (And definitely don't take any "marbleing" advice from me....) Essentially, the recipe directions called for adding all the ingredients together at once and blending. Eh, not how I've learned to do it. So I did it my way! Also, the original recipe said that you should reserve 1/3 of the batter for your vanilla and the remaining 2/3 for the chocolate. Personally, I think I would use a little closer to half and half next time. And from my inexperienced point of view, their directions for the marble effect weren't very helpful.  Here is the original recipe, though! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marble-cake-i/

Marble Cake

Ingredients

2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. milk
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions (Edited by me)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch round pan.
2.) Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
3.) In another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.
(Note- I found a nice little tip to help soften the butter a little faster. So easy! All you do is place your stick of butter between two pieces of wax paper and roll it about 1/4 in. thick. Really helps, I think)

4.) Add flour mixture alternating with milk. Beat until smooth.

5.) Reserve roughly half of the batter, and pour the remaining batter into the greased pan.
6.) Stir cocoa into the remaining batter.

7.) Drop the remaining batter into the pan by spoonfuls over the white batter.
8.) Using a knife, swirl the cocoa batter into the white batter creating the marble effect.
9.) Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 min. (Mine was done in exactly 30 min.)
10.) Place on cooling rack and let cool before icing.

Frosting recipe- http://savorysweetlife.com/2011/04/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/

There ya go! My not so "marbly" marble cake. I will be tackling this again very soon, I'm sure. I honestly thought about not posting about this cake because it's not my best and I haven't really run into a lot of let downs yet with my baking. So I was kinda disappointed. But, I need to get over it! After all, this is a blog about my baking "adventures", not all of my 100% flawless recipes. Thanks for reading!! Everyone have a great weekend. :)

Today.... I cooked!

Alright so I know I said this is a blog about my baking adventures... but if and when I do cook, I'm gonna want to blog about it!! My friend, Carla, convinced me to think about cooking up some home made meals on Sundays! So, I thought I'd give it a shot today, seeing as it IS Super Bowl Sunday, and all...


So here it is- some basic (easy!) home made shrimp alfredo!


Link to original recipe- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce-2/

Sorry, I know the picture quality isn't the best, but the game was on!! ;)