Tangerine chocolate marble cake with tangerine icing

I keep telling you about recipes that go wrong and how I do not give up on them. This cake is sort of an example: I made the chocolate orange marble cake from DH mag (#44) and it turned out miserable - an 8-cup capacity pan would not hold that much batter, but I insisted on trusting the recipe. I ended up tossing the whole cake. :(

I decided to make it again – I adore marble cakes – and used a slightly different recipe (same source, though) and a larger pan. Tangerines replaced oranges and went along with the chocolate batter. The cake turned out delicious.

Still on the “not-giving-up-mood”, I finished watching “In Bruges” – I cannot believe how wrong I was. The movie is great and went straight to my list. ;)

Tangerine chocolate marble cake with tangerine icing
slightly adapted from the always wonderful and foolproof Modern Classics Book 2

Cake:
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups + 1 tablespoon (278g) superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 ¼ cups (315g) all purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature
¼ cup (23g) cocoa powder, sifted
finely grated zest of 3 tangerines
2 tablespoons superfine sugar, extra
1 tablespoon whole milk, extra

Icing:
1 cup (140g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon tangerine juice, more if necessary

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter generously a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan.
Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally). Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the butter mixture and fold through with the milk. Pour half of the batter into another bowl and add the tangerine zest. To the other bowl, add the cocoa, extra milk and sugar and stir to combine. Drop alternate spoonfuls of the two batters into the prepared pan, the swirl lightly with a butter knife to give the cake a marbled effect. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes then carefully unmold onto a wire rack (if using a silicone pan follow the manufacturer’s instructions). Cool completely.
Make the icing: sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Add the tangerine juice and mix until spreadable consistency. Spread over the cake.

Serves 10-12