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There’s a Zebra in my Kitchen

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Isn’t she beautiful?   Thanks to Farida who made the original cake and it has been so popular ever since.   Mine is not as perfect as Farida’s but it tasted great and impressed my guests who ate it.

Although I was planning to post something else for today,my today’s post calls for celebration, so I am sending each one of you a slice of this beautiful cake.

My 2 year bloggoversay was in August and you all probably know that during August I was taking it easy due to some health problems so I forgot all about it.   However, this is my 555 post, which I think is a lovely number to celebrate.

The only thing I changed to Farida’s recipe is the analogy of the ingredients.  As we are a family of five I do not have small baking tins and as the recipe was for a 9″ (about 23cm) baking tin,  I had to increase the recipe in order to bake it in a 28 cm (11 inch) one.

I was so nervous when making the cake that I did not take step to step photos but no worries, you can see them at Farida’s blog.

Zebra Cake – Recipe adapted from Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time:50 minutes

Makes: 1 cake 28 cm baking tin

Ingredients:

  • 5 Eggs
  • 1 ¼ Cups Sugar
  • 1 ¼ Cups low fat Milk
  • 1 1/4 Cups Vegetable Oil
  • 525 Grams Self-rising flour (about 3 cups)
  • 1/3 Cup Dark cocoa (5 tbsp)
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla essence
  • ¼ Tsp Salt

Directions:

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held electric mixer or wire whisk beat until the mixture is creamy and light in colour.
  2. Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine and mix flour, vanilla essence and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. DO NOT OVERBEAT  to prevent air pockets from forming in the batter.The consistency of the batter should be neither very thick not too loose.
  4. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C).
  6. Lightly grease the pan with oil. If you don’t have a non-stick baking pan, grease whatever pan you have then line it with parchment paper (baking paper).
  7. The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. This is what you do. Scoop 3 heaped tablespoons of plain batter (you can also use a ladle that would hold 3 tablespoons) into the middle of the baking pan. Then scoop 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter and pour it in the centre on top of the plain batter.
  8. Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads – keep going! Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish them.
  9. Bake in the oven for about 40 – 50 minutes in a 26 – 28 cm baking tin. Do not open the oven door at least the first 20 minutes or the cake will shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the centre. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, and then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool. You can sprinkle the top of the cake with some powdered (confectioner’s) sugar or leave it plain.

Other related posts:

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Elia’s Cake

Orange Yoghurt Cake

Chocolate and Ginger Cake with cream cheese glazing

Cuckoo’s Nest Chocolate Cake

Vassilopita

Victoria Sandwich Cake

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

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ILikePaperCutting

Wednesday 23rd of June 2010

wow, this is real nice

Peter

Thursday 24th of September 2009

Ivy, congrats on your very successful blog, dishes and writing. I wish you many, many more posts, readership and delicious food!

Psst....pass me a piece of cake please.

cheffresco

Tuesday 22nd of September 2009

I love that cake! Looks beautiful!

Katerina

Tuesday 22nd of September 2009

This is so beautiful! A real piece of art, well done Ivy!

Natasha - 5 Star Foodie

Tuesday 22nd of September 2009

What a gorgeous zebra cake, sounds absolutely delicious! Happy belated blogiversary!

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