Zebra Cake

I saw this cake at the KAF site & had to make it since it looks so cool.  It's easy to make the stripes &  it came out exactly as it should have.  The cake itself was a little bland, but the dark chocolate frosting raised the flavor level. 

Zebra Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup milk (whole, 2% or 1%)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons dutched dark cocoa

 

In the bowl of your mixer, blend the sugar and eggs until lightened, about 2 minutes. On low speed blend in the oil, milk and vanilla until well combined and smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to remove any lumps. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Combine on medium speed 1-2 minutes or until the batter is smooth and lump free. Be sure to scrape down the bowl halfway through mixing. Remove 2 cups of the vanilla batter and place it in the measure you used for the liquid ingredients. Sift the cocoa over this batter, and stir well to combine. Be sure to use a sifter to avoid cocoa lumps in the batter.  Now for the stripes. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of vanilla batter into the center of the cake pan. Next, spoon 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter into the center of the vanilla batter. This causes the vanilla batter to spread out. Continue to alternate batters, in bulls-eye fashion until all batter is used. You will now have thin rings of each batter on the outer edges of the pan, thicker rings towards the center. Bake the cake in the center of the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost as desired.    Chocolate Frosting Makes about 3 cups 1 stick (4 oz) butter 3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder 1/4 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon instant expresso 1 teaspoon vanilla extractHeat milk for about 30 seconds in microwave until hot. Stir in vanilla and instant coffee until dissolved. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, and cocoa powder. Add warm milk and mix on high speed until fluffy.