Marble Pound Cake

There are some days, well…most days, when I crave a simple cake, nothing big or fancy, creating something simple shouldn't require much work. This cake is a classic pound cake, my friend Linda's favourite, it is moist and delicious the way pound cake should be. adapted from Anna Olson

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 ml) - unsalted butter - room temperature
• 1 cup (240 ml) - sugar
• 4 large eggs room temperature
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) - sour cream ( I used plain yogurt)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) - vanilla extract
• 2 cups (480 ml) - all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon (6 ml) - baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) - salt
• 4 ounces (115 g) - bittersweet chocolate - melted and cooled

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 pan, tapping out any excess flour.
2. Beat the butter and sugar, using electric beaters or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing on medium speed. Stir the sour cream and vanilla together and beat in.
4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the batter, beating on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure this.
5. Spoon out half of the batter into another bowl. Stir in the melted chocolate until blended.
6. Dollop the vanilla batter and chocolate batter in alternate spoonfuls into the pan. Use a knife or skewer to swirl the batter just a little.
7. Bake the cakes for about 60 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 30 minutes.