This recipe comes from cookbook author Chanie Apfelbaum’s maternal grandmother Chaya. “I still have the original card she wrote the recipe on,” says Chanie. The oil in the batter lends a velvety smooth crumb to the cake, which is a cinch to make. Plush and impressively marbled, this simple bundt cake is a hit with all of the Apfelbaum family’s guests.
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2 cups sugar
1 cup neutral oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
1. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla, whisking until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the flour mixture and water to the wet ingredients, alternating between them until incorporated.
3. our two thirds of the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining batter in your mixing bowl. Add dollops of the chocolate mixture to the vanilla batter in the pan and use a knife to swirl them together, creating a marble effect.
4. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then gently run a knife around the edges of the cake and invert the cake onto the wire rack. Cool completely and dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
