Marble Pound cake recipe. I will teach you how to make a delicious and rich Marble Pound Cake, or shall I say marble swirl cake? Since the chocolate flavor is kicking big time in this pound cake recipe, I guess I will call it chocolate marble pound cake or fudge marble pound cake. Ok, I think I have confused you enough!
Easy Pound Cake Recipe
This marble pound cake recipe is for a moist, yet rich pound cake, the chocolate part of it tastes almost like fudge, so you have everything you love in one cake, a moist, rich texture, wonderful flavor, and it looks gorgeous.
Use high-quality butter and chocolate for this pound cake recipe, the flavor of these two ingredients are dominant. The steps to making this marble swirl cake are easy to follow.
You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to speed up the process of making the cake, a whisk will work too, but you will take longer time in mixing the batter.
In this pound cake recipe, I have used evaporated milk mixed with water since (in my opinion) it enhances the richness of the cake, but of course, you can use whole milk instead.
I wouldn’t use skim milk in this recipe. If you’re looking after your calorie intake but still crave delicious pound cake, then try my low-calorie pound cake recipe.
If you want the Authentic Classic Pound Cake Recipe, I’ve got that too. I have a feeling that you’ll love the marble version more though! In case you are not fond of chocolate, do not add it to the batter and you will still enjoy an amazing pound cake.
In case you made this cake, please take a pic and tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see your cake looked 😊
Let’s bake some marble pound cake!
Marble Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup evaporated milk mixed with ¼ cup water OR 1/2 cup regular whole milk
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with 4 tablespoon hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Butter and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan, keep aside.
- In a bowl, sift flour with salt and baking powder. Keep aside.
- In a different bowl, Add the butter and beat for 3 minutes until lighter in color. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy and much lighter in color, about 4 minutes on high speed.
- Add the vanilla and then add the eggs one at a time, and each time you add an egg, beat for three minutes.
- Add half the flour to the butter and sugar mixture and beat on lowest speed until combined (do not over mix).
- Add all the milk and beat until combined then add the rest of flour and beat until combined. The batter should look silky but a little thick.
- Take around three fourth of the batter (around 2 cups and a half) and mix with the chocolate and hot water mixture.
- When scooping both batters in the pan, place a scoop of white batter and beside it a chocolate and the white batter and beside it chocolate batter. For the second layer, on top of every white batter place a chocolate batter, and on each chocolate, scoop a scoop of white batter. Using a butter knife, make a U or an S shape.
- Tap the pan lightly two times over the kitchen counter, place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Nutrition
Other Cake Recipes you will love
Coconut Cake Recipe with Frosting
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Your marbled cake turned out perfect, Muna. I love the smooth even crumb.
Thank you 🙂 … I love this version of pound cake since it has chocolate!
I love marble cake because it makes my decision easy. I don’t have to choose between chocolate or yellow.
Holy moly that sounds amazing! I’ve never made a pound cake but I think I have to now. Amazing job!
xo, Kimberly
OHHHH this looks AMAZING! I may have to attempt this! Im not the best baker but the recipe looks simple enough to try! Thanks for sharing
Love the idea to mix evaporated milk with water to maintain the richness of the cake. Swirl cakes are so good so I’m adding this to my must try list!
Thank you Nicole!
This cake looks divine!!
This looks so good!!! I will try to bake this cake for my grandparents birthday next week. cross your fingers 🙂
Now I have to admit I love a good marble cake, they are perfect with a hot drink and I really should think about making one myself soon. I’ll perhaps give your recipe a try.
Hope you liked it 🙂
I’ll try to show some restraint here-but this looks great! Can’t wait to try it!
Your marble pound cake recipe looks and sounds ridiculously delicious. I love fudge, so the chocolate part sounds divine to me!
If you like fudge then this cake will make you smile!
This cake looks so so pretty! and instagrammable! I would love to bake something like this and will keep this recipe in mind
Almost looks too pretty to eat! Almost. 😉 Pinning this to my desserts board.
Thanks for you kind words Alexandra 🙂
Perhaps mine was too close to the top. It’s a bit crisper on the outside than the photos show. Chocolate had good flavor. Maybe more vanilla extract to get a stronger taste on the vanilla side. Overall this is tasty and I love marbled pound cake!
Hi Lynn, Thanks for your comment. The top part of pound cakes can get darker and crispier because the cake takes a long time to bake. What you can do next time is to cover the top of the cake with aluminum foil when the color turn golden and continue baking, this will prevent the cake from getting darker. Hope this helps 🙂
I forgot to add baking powder to the cake 😭😭
No problem, you can always make it again 😉
Can you believe I have never eaten a pound cake? I was never sure about the texture! I guess this one would be a great one to test out
WHAT?!! I never met a person who never had a pound cake in his life, but Jessica I think when you taste one you’ll fall in love 🙂
This pound cake looks so delicious! Love how the chocolate and vanilla just swished with each other so perfectly.
Thank you Lisa 🙂
OOoo this pound cake looks so delicious. I’m all about pound cake. I need to make this soon!
This looks incredible and after many, many different tries I am STILL after the perfect marble cake, so maybe this will be it!
I can’t get evaporated milk here, so I’ll need to replace that. How much milk would I use? I wasn’t sure if it would be 1/4 cup (for the evaporated milk) or 1/2 cup (for the evaporated milk + water).
Thanks!
Hi Miriam, I have updated the recipe and you can use 1/2 cup whole milk if you don’t have evaporated milk and omit the water.
Thank you!
I’m usually not a chocolate lover, but this looks amazing! The marble pound cake looks like it’s just enough chocolate so that it’s not overload.
Yes, the chocolate is not taking over the flavor of this cake.
Ohhh this looks so pretty. I have oly made plain or lemon pound cake. I have all your ingredients except the evaporated milk. After I pick it up this may be as good as made!!
You can still make it with whole milk, but I would love for you to share how you liked it 🙂
I used evaporated milk n the second time I made it I used regular milk it was moist n delicious n easy too make my family n I enjoyed it
Thanks for your feedback, Rachel 🙂
Seriously, this looks amazing! And your original pound cake recipe looks awesome. And so does that lamb stew on the sidebar! Anyway, I love the addition of chocolate to pound cake – I’ve had something like this before. Nothing like a good slice of pound cake – it’s one of our favorites.
Thank you so much and I hope you give this recipe a try!
Wow! This looks delicious and it came out perfect!
Thank you!
Oh my god this marble cake looks so delicious and I would love this cake with tea. Thank you so much for your tutorial xx
I love marble cake and this looks amazing and so straight forward to make! That’s my plan for the weekend.
Thank for sharing this amazing recipe. It look so good especially for somebody who love chocolate like me. I will try it someday and I hope it will be same to you.
I am always looking for new recipes to try. I love to bake and pound cake is one of my favorites. I will have to give this recipe a try this weekend.
I am a huge fan of marble cakes and I will totally be cancelling my stuff now to make one. Thanks for the recipe!
I love a good pound cake! Marble cake used to be my favorite so I will have to try this!
Oh my goodness this looks divine! My preggie belly needs to have this TODAY! I am definitely bookmarking and baking this as soon as possible!
Will have to try evaporated milk next time, mine always come out a little drier to taste :-/ Pinning this recipe !
Oh my this looks so amazing! Sounds great with some strawberries and whipped topping. It seems pretty easy to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I am not a huge fan of pound cake. But to be honest this pound cake does look incredible. The marbelization makes it looks so much better.
Thank you David 🙂
Hi this looks awesome. Is the butter supposed to be softened? I wasn’t sure. Thanks.
Liz
Hi Liz, the butter should be soft but not melting. It should be cold and can hold its shape, yet a butter knife cand cut it easily. I hope this helped 🙂
You certainly got the perfect swirl on that cake! I love pound cake and haven’t had it in a long time. It’s easy to turn pound cake into other delicious desserts, too – like trifle. So I’m sure I could make this cake go a long ways! Thanks for the recipe.
I hope my post encouraged you to make some pound cake 🙂
I tried that marble cake. It was delicious and light. Thank u for sharing with us the perfect receipe..
Hi Khulood, thanks for your feedback, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
My pleasure
This recipe came out PERFECT on the first try. I just had to add one or two tablespoons of hot water to my cocoa because the mix came out super dense and I felt like it wasn’t going to mix well with the rest of the batter. I also used 2% evaporated milk because I didn’t have whole. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for your feedback Claudia, I’m happy that you liked it 🙂
I would like to try this. I do have a question though – it appears from the pictures and assembly instructions (step 8) that there is a 50/50 split of chocolate/yellow batter, yet based on step 7, there would be 75% chocolate and 25% yellow. I just want to confirm whether you split the batter in half or 3/4 to achieve this cake. Can’t wait to bring this into work for team coffee break!
Hi Barb. I have taken almost 3/4 of the batter and mixed it with chocolate. I didn’t weight it but eyeballed it. I wanted the marble effect to be intense and make the chocolate part more visible than the yellow. I hope you give it a try and please do let me know how you liked it 🙂
Get it ready to make this easy pound cake. I have one problem! I check my ingredients and I have salted butter.. please help!!💖
I sometimes use salted butter too, just omit the pinch of salt mentioned in the ingredients and go ahead. 🙂
Could I use 1 c up of sour cream
instead of buttermilk??
Hi, it is better to use whole milk instead for this recipe but you can use buttermilk. Sour cream will result in a dense cake and it won’t have the texture desired.
Muna! Great recipe. I made this for board game night and it was a hit
Have you ever used this recipe with the addition of strawberries? Using this recipe for my Grandbabies to make and one wanted chocolate and strawberries.
Using strawberries in the batter will make it soggy, but you can add some on top of the cake before baking.
Hi Muna, can you tell me if this cake freezes well.
Thanks
Rhonda B
Hi Rhonda, the cake will be a little dry if kept in the freezer or in the fridge since it is a butter based cake. Hope this helped.
Hi! So I made this recipe today and have a question for you. What is the consistency of the cocoa powder and hot water mixture supposed to be like? Mine turned into almost a clay like consistency which resulted in a light brown colored chocolate batter freckled with clumps of cocoa powder. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you😊
Hi Whitney, you should get a thick batter but you have to fluff the cocoa powder first and then measure it to get the exact amount. You have to mix the chocolate batter well to avoid lumps. I hope this helped 🙂
Hello I was wonder if this recipe would fit a 10” tube pan or if I would have to change the recipe thanks:)
Hi! I think it will work fine but you might not get the height shown in the images of this post.
Hi muna , I used to bake normal marble cake and it was good. But when I tried yours, it turned out to be AMAZING. It was moist, creamy inside, very delicious and just the right balance. My only tip: I added more chocolate to the batter. That’s the only change that I have made. Everyone has asked me where I got the recipe from. Thank you so much and wish you the best 🤗
Hi Majida, thanks for your feedback. Between you and me, I like more chocolate too 😉
I just put this in the oven and the batter was wonderful
and light, can’t wait till it’s done. Thanks
Please let me know how it turned out 🙂
This was delightful. I added a little melted chocolate to the chocolate batter as I find just adding cocoa and water can make the cake a bit dry. This is a generalization in reference to marble cakes, yours may not do this. I was being proactive. 🙄🙂
And I used 3/4 tsp salt.
Definitely making this again.
Hi, I’m so happy to get your feedback! Adding melted chocolate sounds delicious, I will try it too 🙂
I followed your recipe exactly as you have described and it came out delicious. The texture of the cake was perfect. The addition of evaporated milk made a big difference. Thanks for the lovely recipe. My only concern was the ratio of white and chocolate batter. The recipe mentions to mix 3/4th of the batter with chocolate mix which ended up in a more chocolaty cake than a marble. Should it be 3/4 cup of the batter than 3/4th of the batter?
Hi Paru, Thank you for trying my recipe and I’m happy that you enjoyed it. I always made the recipe the same way I wrote it and yes the chocolate batter always seems to look much more than the white but the white batter rise more while baking than the chocolate batter. However, I will make the recipe again and give a precise measurement of how many cups should be taken from the batter to mix with chocolate, I guess this will make it easier on my readers.
Thanks again for bringing this to attention, I truely appreciate it 🙂
Hi…can use sweetened condesed milk instead of evaborating milk and reduce the sugar amount?
Hi, I didn’t try it but I think the texture of the cake won’t be the same and may turn dense.
Hello, can this recipe be doubled without a problem?
Hi! Yes, you can double it with no problem at all just use two loaf pans instead of one.
Fantastic! Great taste, beautifully soft texture. The chocolate makes it scrumptious. I served it topped with strawberries for a birthday dessert, and everyone was in heaven. Love this recipe!
Only thing I would edit: the prep time. The beat & mix times alone add up to about 20 mins, so no way this takes only 10 mins to prep. 🙂 I spent about 40 mins on prep — I might be able to shave off 5 mins or so once I get it down, but I don’t think you could prep this in less than 30 mins (plus extra time to get eggs and butter to room temp).
Other than that, it’s a true 5-star recipe!
Thanks for your feedback Shawn, I’m glad that you like this cake as much as we did 🙂
Hi! This cake is beautiful and I’m going to try making it. I’ve read that coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate. Can four tablespoons of hot coffee be used in place of plain water in the cocoa mixture? thanks!
Hi Stephanie, yes you can use coffee instead of water 🙂
I loved it
Thank you 🙂
Hello! Just wondering why there is more chocolate batter than vanilla in the end. Should there not be equal amounts when they’re scooped into the pan or should the vanilla scoops be smaller? I added about 3/4 of the original batter to the chocolate mixture but ended up not using a lot of the chocolate since I ran out of vanilla. Thanks!
Hi Olivia, In this recipe, the chocolate is a little more to give and intense marble pattern, but if you prefer more vanilla or equal portions then you can adjust the amount of the batter you use to mix with chocolate to half instead!
If I want to make 2 (in two loaf pans) can I just double the recipe?
Yes 🙂
I couldn’t resist but managed to bake this cake today and it turned out so good everyone loved it!
Thank you for trying my recipe, this cake is amazing and I bake it often to my family too!
Made this tonight absolutely scrumptious.
Moist and delicious thank you for the awesome recipe. Now to keep from eating the whole thing in one sitting.
This cake is our favorite too, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Made this last night for iftar. It was delicious! This will be my go to marble cake recipe. Thank you!
Hi Alya, thanks for your comment 🙂
The taste and texture is amazing! However, my swirl didn’t happen, I think the batter was too watery. Any idea what I did wrong? Followed the recipe exactly.
Hi Jas, I can only guess that you might have mixed the batter a little too long!
Best marble cake I have ever eaten! I made it in a bundt pan though.
Hi Swetha, I’m sure that cake looked amazing, thanks for your kind comment 🙂
That cake is absolutely beautiful. I love the swirled coloring all through it. It’s almost too pretty to eat. I would eat it, though.
Thank you Leesa, it is easy to make this marble pound cake and I hope you give it try 🙂
I love everything about this cake. From the beautiful swirl to the rich, buttery and chocolatey flavors, this cake looks like a BIG winner. I can’t wait to make it.
Hi, Thanks for your comment, I hope that you enjoy making this cake, it’s one of my favorite cakes 🙂
Your cake looks amazing! When I made a marble pound cake, I couldn’t get the contrast between the chocolate and the vanilla cake to be as distinct as yours.
Marble pound cake looks different each time and that’s normal! I try my best to make the swirl look good but at times it just doesn’t happen 🙂
i love a good pound cake! looks delicious. why does your recipe require evaporated milk?
Thanks! You can use whole milk instead of evaporated milk, I have added it as a suggestion in case someone has no milk at home, the evaporated milk mixed with water work as a substitute! 🙂
This marble cake looks amazing–it looks so velvety soft and tasty! I can’t wait to try it!
It looks so nnniiiccceeeee….my issue comes in with the milk. Can I use non-dairy milk?
Hi, you can try coconut milk since it has enough amount of fat, and if you do let me know how it came out for you.
The marbling effect came out so nicely, the cake looks truly amazing! Thanks for such a detailed recipe!
Thanks for your kind words Ivana 🙂
Wonderful pound cake it looks sublime. I’ll give it a try
That pumpkin crumble cake is calling my name. I love a good crumbly topping.
It was a huge hit and I never get bored of baking it!
I love your Marble Pound Cake recipe. I hope I can make it on weekends. So yummy!
Just wondering why the batter is separated into 3/4 to mix with cocoa powder and then 1/4 unmixed batter? How will the layering of white and dark mix evenly in the loaf tin? I tried this just now and got a lot more of the chocolate batter remaining.
Hi Mei, I have tried this recipe with half batter vanilla and half chocolate, the marble effect wasn’t that great and the flavor of chocolate didn’t come out as I wished. Trying this recipe with this amount of vanilla batter and chocolate batter the cake turned out great. When layering the batter, try scooping double the amount of chocolate on the vanilla batter and then add a layer of vanilla over it, this way the batter will distribute evenly. Hope this helped, but if you have more questions or suggestions please let me know 🙂
Hi Muna..
I love your recipes! MashaAllah..keep up your good work! Just a question .for the marble cake can i omit the eggs n replace with yoghurt? If so may i knw how much..
Thanks a lot..God bless u
Hi Siraya, Adding yogurt instead of eggs won’t work in this recipe, the texture will not come out right!
Hi Muna,
I mentioned before that this is the best marble cake I have ever eaten. Sadly the second time I tried it it formed a hardish crust on top and was tender in the middle. I followed the same method as the first time ( as outlined in your recipe) but I’m not sure why it didn’t turn out the same way. The batter was also much thinner because of which it looked like a white flecked chocolate cake rather than a marble cake.
Hi Swetha, I guess the oven was very hot therefore the hard crust. It’s best to cover the cake when it turns light brown while baking with aluminum foil which will prevent the cake from over-baking at the top. The batter might be thinner because the butter melted while making the batter. When the butter melts the batter spreads quickly and the white batter mixes with the chocolate batter. I hope this helped 🙂
Any thoughts about baking time if I do it in a bundt pan? I made it in loaf pans and it’s the best!
I would think 40 minutes but start checking on it after 30 minutes of baking! Hope this helped 🙂
Hi Muna thanks for sharing this recipe. I made it and came out good. I am just wondering if 4 Tbsp of water is enough to mix in to the 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder on the recipe. It came out pasty unlike your video. Yours on your video came out like a thick liquid. Can I add more water to the cocoa instead of just 4 Tbsp? Like maybe 5 Tbsp or 6 Tbsp? Will it matter if I add more than 4 Tbsp of water to the cocoa?
Hi Mary, I wonder why this happened! Did you measure the cocoa powder and water using a measuring cup and spoon? Was the water you used hot? If your answer to both questions is yes, then it could be the brand of cocoa powder you are using. Go ahead and add one or two more tablespoons of hot water next time and I hope it works for you 🙂
Can this be used to make a 9” double layered cake?
You have to double the ingredients. Hope this helped!
Not a bad tasting marble cake but not at all a traditional pound cake consistency/taste. I think it’s rather sweet compared to the buttery taste of pound cake. Also I agree with other reviews the portions are off on this marble recipe. 4 T. of hot water to 1/3 c dry unsweetened cocoa powder makes for a cement mix. Once the cake baked the chocolate had dense flecks of uncooked cocoa powder. Yes, I measured right and yes I mixed well…..I’ve been baking a very long time. I appreciate the recipe and it was fun to try but not at all what I would consider to be traditional pound cake.
Hi Mimi, this is not a traditional pound cake if you wish to try the traditional recipe then please visit this link https://www.munatycooking.com/authentic-pound-cake/ .. I’m not sure why the cocoa powder mixed with water becomes so hard for you, maybe it’s the brand! but make sure to add enough water to the cocoa powder to reach the consistency shown in the video. Hope this helped.
I use this recipe almost once a week and it turns out perfect everytime. The only thing is that for me it’s a tad bit crumbly but other than that, lovely.
Hi, I’m glad that you liked the recipe. I think you should reduce the baking time or the oven temperature to avoid having a dry cake. Hope this helped.
Hi,
First of all, thank you for the recipe.
My batter is too liquid. Do you know why?
And for step 9 – bake for 1 hour. What is the Fahrenheit or Celsius? Same as preheated?
Hi, your batter might be liquid because either the butter was too soft or almost melting, or you have not measured the flour correctly. Yes, the temperature of the oven shouldn’t change. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi, I really want to try this recipe but I have a question, what sort of cocoa powder should I use? Natural or Dutch-processed(alkalised)?
Hi Natalie, both work but I have used the Natural regular cocoa powder.