Marble cake in cocotte

Many of you were looking forward to having another recipe for cocotte cake. We had already made some in them, and they are so fantastic that we couldn't help but repeat them. Today's recipe is brought to us by Rosa ( Pemberley Cup&Cakes ), and yes, it is as delicious as it seems. Enjoy!

I have always been fascinated by pots full of food, placed on the fire with its rhythmic chup-chup from the first hours of the day, letting out those irresistible, often mysterious aromas throughout the morning until lunchtime.

As a child, I could spend a long time lost in thought, watching my mother or grandmother fill them with an endless number of ingredients, sometimes unknown to me, as they cleaned, cut up or prepared them as needed. It seemed like anything could fit in there!

Le Creuset Round Cast Iron Cocotte , MasterClass Baguette Board , Kitchen Craft Measuring Spoon Set , Birkmann Cooling Rack and Madagascar Vanilla Extract

Later, when I was no longer so little, in the rush to experience everything and quickly, those feelings became dormant. However, once the inevitable urgency of those wonderful years was overcome, they woke up again. And there were the Le Creuset cast iron cocottes , which simply reconquered my love for cooking, in capital letters.

Most of its virtues are obvious at first glance, but the list is practically endless. If you have already experienced it, you know exactly what I am talking about. If you still have any doubts about its performance, I strongly recommend that you try it (or take a look at this post ) and it will resolve them all for you; the only and most difficult one to solve will be choosing the color - the range is almost as wide as its advantages - and then you are on your own.

But today I am not bringing you any ancestral stew that requires long hours of dedication, but a very simple sponge cake, although not in the least monotonous. The versatility of these cocottes is one of their main attractions.

I find marble cakes irresistible. That whimsical design, almost impossible to predict until you start cutting and discovering new patterns with each cut, never ceases to hold its own mystery. In other words, if you are careless and it happens to you like it did to me, a few more may fall behind the first piece just to see how the next one will turn out.

Before leaving you with the recipe, I'll leave you with a simple but important reminder: whenever we use our cocotte in the oven, we must keep in mind that it is not a conventional mould; sudden changes in temperature could damage it, so we will preheat it at the same time as we turn on the oven (even before adding the cake batter, as is the case here). And don't lose sight of all the essential tips to keep our cocotte impeccable until the last day and even afterwards.

Ingredients (for a round cocotte of 24 cm Ø; 12-14 servings)

(All ingredients must be at room temperature, unless otherwise indicated)

• 80ml of semi-skimmed milk
• 45gr of pure unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 325gr of soft wheat flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (Royal type)
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 225gr unsalted butter
• 250gr of white sugar
• 4 eggs (L)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 180gr of natural, sugar-free Greek yogurt
• Powdered sugar to decorate (optional)

* 1 tablespoon = 15 ml ; 1 teaspoon = 5 ml *

Elaboration

1. Preheat the oven (electric and without air) to 200ºC with heat above and below and place our 24 cm Ø cocotte without a lid at medium height on the oven rack.

2. Before starting to combine the ingredients, it is very important to have them all on hand, previously weighed or measured and at the right temperature, because once we start there is no time to waste if we want to get a properly baked cake with a perfect crumb.

3. While the oven and cocotte are preheating, in a small saucepan, gently heat the milk over low heat until it begins to smoke or bubbles appear around the edges, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, add the previously sifted cocoa and stir with a whisk until completely combined. Allow to cool.

4. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

5. In another large bowl (if we are going to usean electric mixer , we will use the paddle attachment), vigorously beat the butter together with the sugar for about 4-5 minutes until we obtain a spongy texture with a visibly paler appearance.

6. Next, add the eggs, one at a time and lightly beaten beforehand, and mix gently. Do not add the next one until the previous one has been fully incorporated. At this point, the mixture may look “cut,” but all is well; as soon as you continue mixing the rest of the ingredients, the dough will be perfectly cohesive.

7. Next, add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

8. Finally, we add the dry ingredient mix that we had reserved (point 4), alternating it with the yogurt as follows (the quantities are approximate): we start by adding ⅓ of the dry ingredients, ½ of the yogurt, ⅓ of the dry ingredients, the remaining ½ of the yogurt and the last ⅓ of the dry ingredients, always mixing just enough after each addition so that everything is more or less integrated, but without overdoing it or the crumb will be dense and not very spongy.

9. Now divide the dough into two parts, one slightly larger than the other (no need to be too precise here; 60-40 can be fine), add the milk and cocoa mixture to the smaller part and mix with a spatula just enough to get a homogeneous colour.

Le Creuset round cocotte , vanilla extract , measuring spoons and Birkmann cooling rack

10. Then remove the cocotte from the oven using oven mitts or a couple of kitchen towels, place it on a rack or heat-resistant surface and, being very careful not to burn yourself, grease the inside by applying a thin film of butter with the help of a long-handled pastry brush (or with release spray ).

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO WORK WITH A CERTAIN QUICKNESS FROM THIS POINT ON, SINCE THE CASSEROLE WILL BE VERY HOT AND LETTING THE DOUGH REST TOO LONG INSIDE THE COCOTTE OUTSIDE OF THE OVEN COULD END UP SPOILING OUR SPONGE CAKE.

11. Once the cocotte is ready, we begin by first adding a generous spoonful of white batter in the centre. On top of this, we place another spoonful of cocoa batter and then another spoonful of white batter, always alternating both batters until they are all used up. We must always ensure that they do not mix too much and that they are well alternated and distributed throughout the interior of the container.

A very useful and practical way to apply the spoonfuls of batter to this type of cake is to have a couple of ice cream spoons; we will control the quantity of each of the batters at all times and we will work as quickly and cleanly as possible.

12. Once all the batter has been added, we run a skewer or small spatula through the inside of the batter, making a few random grooves to achieve that marbled effect. We finish by tapping it very gently against the kitchen bench, always on a cloth folded between the cocotte and the surface, so that the batter settles well and any air bubbles are expelled from inside.

13. Reduce the oven temperature to 180ºC and bake without a lid for about 45-50 minutes until the centre is well done (after the first 40 minutes you can check how your cake is doing; we know that every oven has its own rhythm). To make sure it is properly baked, insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and check that it comes out clean of crumbs. If not, check every 3 or 4 minutes until it does.

14. Once our marbled cake has been properly baked, we remove the cocotte from the oven, place it on a cooling rack and let the cake cool completely inside before removing it from the mould and cutting it (always in that order; see Notes below). If we have greased the inside well, it will come out without any difficulty; in fact, as it cools, we will see that the cake will come off the inside of the container by itself. Even so, before removing it from the mould, it is a good idea to gently shake the cocotte with the cake until you notice that it has completely come off and thus achieve a perfect unmoulding.

15. If you like, you can sprinkle a little icing sugar over the cold cake before serving.

It can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days, well protected from the air (you can even keep it inside the cocotte, closed with its lid).

Chemex coffee maker , Le Creuset mugs and Textured porcelain plates from Tokio Design

Grades:

- Whenever we are going to cut our cakes, we will preferably use a long and well-sharpened serrated knife , this way we will obtain clean and precise cuts without crumbling the cake.

- We can also use a cocotte with a smaller diameter (22 cm Ø, for example), although the baking time will be slightly longer, which will have to be checked after the first 45 minutes.

Believe me when I say that there is no breakfast or snack (or mid-morning snack, or even midnight snack) that is not brightened up with a slice of this fantastic marbled cake. Would you eat one right now? It's understandable, and if you end up doing it, be sure to tell us about it!

All the best,
Pink