Marble cake

1. Preheat oven to 170 C or 325 F. Grease the baking tray with butter and line it with parchment paper / butter paper.Keep aside.

2. Sieve together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt 2 to 3 times.

3. In another bowl,take sugar and butter.Using a hand mixer,mix together to make a smooth and creamy mixture( you can also use wooden spatula or spoon to mix it.)
Add one egg at a time to this butter sugar mix.Beat each egg for 1 mint.Then add vanilla essence and mix well.

4. Then add in the flour mixture little by little alternating with milk.Use wooden spatula to mix the flour and milk.( If you use hand mixer you tend to over beat; at this stage you just need to mix till the flour is combined )

5. Remove a cup of this batter to another bowl and add cocoa powder to it.Mix well.

6. Spoon the white coloured batter into the greased pan for 2 layers alternating with cocoa mixture.Continue till both the batters are finished.Run a knife or wooden skewer the batter in zig zag motion.

7. Bake for 45-50 mints.Transfer the pan to a rack and let it cool down for 15 mints.Slice and serve.

8. Notes:While making batter if the batter doesn't seem to be smooth enough carefully add more milk little by little.The batter for this cake is little more thicker than the usual cake batter.
While baking ,if the cake is browning too much on the top,cover it with a aluminium foil and continue baking.

9. Eggless Version:
Sieve 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 cups maida/all purpose flour and 1 cup milk powder twice. In another bowl mix 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 yogurt and keep aside. In a bowl, cream the butter and add 1 tsp vanilla essence .To this add a cup of powdered sugar little by little and mix well. Next, fold the flour mixture alternating with the wet ingredients (water+milk+yogurt) starting and ending with flour. Do not over beat. Take a cup of this cake batter and add 2 tbsps of cocoa pwd. Then for layering the batter follow the instructions from the recipe above. Bake at 170 degrees C for 35-40 mts.