Zebra cake

Baking was considered by me, to be a tedious task. I guess, it was just a matter of getting used to. Once you start loving it, it gives you ample opportunity to bring out the artist in you :). And, for me and my husband, the very smell of the bakery is tempting and leaves us mouth watering.

We have a grocery store next to our apartment. They have their bakery/deli located right at their entrance. Now, that is the strategy, you see, to make people buy their products. Today, while I went out for the weekly grocery shopping, I went so crazy at the smell of the bakery, that I made up my mind to bake a cake today - a quick but a special one. I had gone through this recipe quite a long time back, but had given up the thought of trying it, as it seemed complicated. But trust me, after trying it, it turned out to be the simplest among all the complicated cake recipes in my to-bake list. Okay, now lets get to business. So, here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients 

1. 4 large eggs @ room temperature
2. 1 cup of granulated sugar
3. 1 cup milk @ room temperature
4. 3/4 cup of vegetable oil
5. 2 cups of all purpose flour
6. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
7. 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
8. 2 tbsp of dark cocoa powder

Method

• Sift through the flour and the baking powder, so that the baking powder gets mixed evenly. Also, it would help make the flour lump-free. Keep it aside.
• Combine the eggs and the granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat it till the mixture turns out to be creamy and gets shiny.
• Pour in the oil and the milk and beat it till all the ingredients gets blended.
• Fold in, the all purpose flour, little by little onto the bowl to combine it with the wet ingredients. 
• Add the vanilla extract.
• Mix it well so that all the ingredients gets incorporated well and gives you a smooth batter.
• Pour half of the batter onto a different bowl.
• Into one of the bowls, sift through the cocoa powder and mix it well.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.
• Meanwhile, grease the baking pan with butter.
• Scoop in 3 spoons of plain batter on to the middle of the pan. Then scoop in 3 spoons of cocoa batter, in the center and on top of the plain batter. Alternatively keep pouring the batter into the pan, until half filled. You need not spread the batter. The batter would spread on its own while you keep pouring in the batter alternatively.
• Bake the cake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, untill a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Tips

1. Batter for the zebra cake should be neither too thick nor too thin, to help get you the desired zebra pattern.
2. The speed at which you pour the batter into the pan, alternatively, would determine the thickness of the strips in the cake. So make sure to be quick while doing it , so as to get the perfect thickness of the strips in your zebra cake.
3. Do not shake the pan with the intension of spreading the batter. It would happen so, on its on, while you would be scooping in the batter alternatively.
4. Do not open the oven, for the initial 20 mins or so , as it could prevent the cake from rising and might not turn out to be fluffy.

This is one simple cake that didn't last at our home for more than a day or two. So, I might need to look into baking more than just one cake, the next time I make it, and so should you :). Happy baking !!!

Recipe courtesy : AZCookbook with little tweaking.