Recipes Blog

German Marble Cake

By Tori Avey, The Shiksa in the Kitchen

The idea of marbling two different colored batters into a cake originated in nineteenth century Germany. Marble cake made its way to America with German immigrants before the Civil War. Originally the cakes were marbled with molasses and spices. The first recorded Jewish recipe for a marble cake appears in an American cookbook called Aunt Babette’s Cook Book: Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household, published in 1889. This recipe replaced the molasses and spice combination by marbling chocolate into the cake, a reflection of the new American obsession with chocolate. The cake remained popular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

According to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food by Gil Marks, “Many Jewish bakeries in the New York area in the 1950’s through the 1970’s would distinctively add a small amount of almond extract to the chocolate marble cake, creating a version sometimes referred to as a ‘German Marble Cake,’ that had a characteristic almond aroma.” Delicious, right?

My German Marble Cake recipe is traditional, with a slightly modern twist-- I like to add vanilla pudding mix to the batter. This little trick is a fantastic way to add moisture and flavor to your cakes. You can use regular or instant pudding mix; just sift it in dry with the flour. It creates a wonderful texture and locks in moisture so the cake doesn’t dry out as quickly. They certainly weren’t doing it this way in Germany 150 years ago, but sometimes it’s fun to improve on tradition. If you don’t have vanilla pudding mix in your pantry, just replace the pudding with an equivalent amount of cake flour. And in case you’re wondering, cake flour is a finer grade of all purpose flour that produces a more delicate cake with a tender crumb. I highly recommend it for this particular cake; it makes a batter just perfect for marbling.

If you’ve never marbled a cake before, click here for detailed instructions on my site. A high quality cocoa powder will bring even more flavor to the marbling in this lovely cake; Valrhona Cocoa Powder, available at Zabars.com, is an excellent choice (and kosher certified for those who keep kosher!).

This cake is perfect for the holidays. The loaf size makes it a wonderful hostess gift. Wrap it in cellophane and tie a beautiful ribbon around—presto! A beautiful and tasty homemade gift from the heart. Enjoy!

Milk Chocolate Brownies

Nick Malgieri of the Institute of Culinary Education
From One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes
by Tracey Zabar

Image © Ellen Silverman

Every week, David cooks and I bake for Sunday dinner. I often make one of the brownies from One Sweet Cookie - Cheesecake Brownies from Nicole Kaplan, Maida Heatter's Palm Beach Brownies (with or without chocolate covered mints), or my own blondies, which we call Chumleys. These Milk Chocolate Brownies, from my friend and baking teacher, Nick Malgieri, are often requested by the children--Ben & Marki, Danny, Michael, and Willie. They are yummy by themselves, but you can also serve them with whipped cream, ice cream, and berries.

Master baker Malgieri has been my teacher for several years. He keeps me laughing with stories of his great-aunts Philomena, Elvira, and Nicoletta, and the trouble they were always getting into. This recipe for delicate, lightly caramelized brownies is a variation on one he learned in culinary school almost forty years ago. When he tried to scale down the recipe to make a smaller batch, he added only half the required flour. Here is the result of that lucky accident.

Buy the book: One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes

Braised Brisket with Ginger and Coriander

(Poitrine de Boeuf Braisée au Gingembre et Coriandre)
From French Classics Made Easy By Richard Grausman, 
Founder & Chairman, C-CAP
Prepared by Carla Contreras

This recipe is a wonderful example of how ingredients not normally associated with classic French cooking can be used to bring new life to a traditional dish.

I really should call this recipe Boeuf Braisé Deborah, for it was created on the evening my wife gave birth to our second daughter, Deborah. One of the nurses who attended to my wife was from the British West Indies and a food enthusiast. When she found out my profession, she asked me for my chocolate mousse recipe. In return she gave me her favorite recipe, chicken cooked with fresh ginger, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and hot pepper.

When I returned home, I took out the brisket of beef I had in the refrigerator and started to prepare a classic braised beef. Finding a piece of ginger in the vegetable drawer, I thought of the nurse’s chicken recipe. Although I did not have cilantro (fresh coriander), I did have ground coriander (the seeds of the coriander plant) and dried hot peppers. My older daughter, Jennifer, and my gourmet mother-in-law were both so pleased with the results that I have been cooking this recipe ever since. As it turned out Deborah was born a “super taster” like her mother, so both find this dish too spicy. Jennifer and I still love it.

From French Classics Made Easy. Buy the book.