Marble Bread (Marmorkuchen)

This is my favorite bread, my traditional birthday cake, and a kids favorite when I bring to events and meetings. It is very easy to make, and easy to transport.

Ingredients:

5x8 loaf pan (Kastenform)

Some grease

125 g (1 stick) butter or margarine

125 g (1/3 cup) sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 package vanilla sugar

2 eggs

200 g (2 cups) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon cocoa powder (Dutch processed)

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1 tablespoon rum or 1/2 teaspoon rum extract (optional)

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

1. Grease loaf pan. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).

2. Add butter or margarine to a bowl. Using the beaters of an electric hand mixer beat butter or margarine until soft. Add sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla extract and whisk until the sugar stops crunching. Add one egg at a time, and whisk batter for 1/2 minute.

3. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Sift mixture in two portions into batter and mix. If the batter is too solis, add 1 tablespoon of milk and mix.

4. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of the batter into the greased loaf pan.

5. Sift cocoa powder into the remaining batter. Add sugar and rum and whisk dark batter until cocoa has blended in.

6. Add brown batter into the loaf pan on top of the white batter. Now take a fork, go into the batter and heap some of the white batter from the bottom and put it on top of the brown batter. Repeat this multiple times to marble the bread. Do not stir the batters, though!

7. Bake bread at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Comments:

1. If the eggs are too cold the fat from the butter or margarine will separate. Don't worry when this happens. When you add flour one smooth batter will form.

2. Be stingy with the liquid you add. Only add so much milk until the batter heavily falls off a spoon. If the batter is too runny add more flour, if the batter doesn't fall off at all, add some more milk. If the cake is too moist, it'll collapse in the middle and moist sections are visible. It's still edible, it just doesn't look as pretty.