A Fugitive From Medusa’s Kitchen

The marble cake has feelings, too, you know. You have to be careful what you say around it. It doesn’t like to think that it is left over. But why? Would it not be pleased that it wasn’t all eaten up? Didn’t it read the fairy tale about the runaway gingerbread man?

Run, little marble cake, run! Be glad that they didn’t eat you all up at the bridge party yesterday afternoon. Shake off that Saran Wrap and book.

But it has been turned to stone. To real actual marble! Oh no! A spell has been cast upon the little marble cake. Or maybe it was Medusa who was doing the baking. That queen from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe helped – Jadis. She had all those stone dwarfs and lions, remember? I’ll bet she could make a cake of marble all right.

Jadis and Medusa’s Bakery, where the cakes never get stale. No expiration date!

They must be fun bridge partners, too. They always, always win. I think they freeze the other players so they can cheat, though.

Here’s a recipe for marble cake that is nice and soft, just in case you want people to eat it all up. This is, like the ad, from the late 1960s, from the ladies’ club cookbook Can You Bake Please? [...And That's An Order!]

MARBLE CHIFFON CAKE

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup water
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup boiling water

Blend together 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Add 1/4 cup boiling water, a little at a time, making a smooth paste. Let stand. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar. Make a well. Add yolks, water, oil and vanilla. Beat egg whites, add 1/2 cup sugar gradually and beat until of a meringue consistency.

Mix egg mixture well. Fold carefully into egg whites and mix. Take off about 1 1/2 cups of this mixture. Put in a bowl and add cocoa paste. Mix well. Alternate white and chocolate mixture in a 10″ ungreased tube pan starting with whites and ending with same. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes, 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Invert for 1 hour.

Just make sure this cake doesn’t start talking to any revolutionary gingerbread cookies.