Almond Marble Cake

Practical cakes like marble cakes will never ever go out of fashion. Much like our good old banana cakes, they are easy to whip up and are perfect to cosy up with a good book and a cup of hot tea. 

Markedly characterized by their streaked or mottled appearance, their effect is achieved by lightly blending the different colored batters. There are many types of marble cakes - using choc & vanilla swirls or multi colored swirls for a psychedelic finish etc.....But the best ways to  get a nice swirl is to mix only 2 or 3 colors. Anything more I believe the batter will blend in to give an army brown appearance (Yikes!).   

In this recipe, to give it a twist, I have substituted a quarter of the flour with Almond meal to give a nice but not overwhelming rich flavor. The choice of colors in this cake is totally up to you. Its your call. For this particular cake I made just yesterday over the long Chinese New Year weekend,  my 11 year old Riya picked the colors. It is as vibrant and colorful as she is :))

Makes a round 8 inch cake 
Ingredients   
200gm butter
200gm sugar
2 eggs 
1/2 tsp vanilla essence 
300 gm self raising flour
100gm almond meal
1 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp each of your favorite colorings (2 or 3 colors)
1/2 cup almond flakes for decoration

Method
Preheat your oven to 200 deg C and prepare a a round 8 inch baking tin.
Cream the butter and sugar till pale in color and light in texture (5-10mins using electric hand mixer).
Add in the eggs one at a time and cream further.
Add in the vanilla essence and mix well.
Mix the self raising flour and almond meal in a separate bowl.
Fold in this flour and almond meal mixture alternating with the milk.
Once fully incorporated, separate the batter into 2 bowls and mix in your chosen colors.
Place heaps of the two batters in alternate fashion in the baking tin. Blend lightly with a wooden skewer.  
Bake for 45-60mins or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Cool for 10 mins and then what else-Enjoy!!