I am writing this as I wait for the stuffed chicken thighs to finish baking. They should have been ready by now, served up alongside vibrant garlic and shallot veggies and tiny sweet chat potatoes. Unfortunately I was clearly having a moment and completely overlooked the need to set the temperature of the oven. My mammoth Ilve oven was whirring away as it was on, but with the temperature knob turned to zero there was not a hint of any cooking taking place. Let’s just say it has been “one of those days”. 

In the background my children are singing along to the theme song of Frozen, apparently the most popular animated children’s film of all time. By the end of the evening I will probably be humming along too because the songs are so irritatingly infectious that they have a way of sweeping everyone along in midst of the melodies. Yep, just call me Olaf the snowman. 

Fortunately there is a moist, Marble Cake with Vanilla Buttercream that sits snugly on a cake stand at the end of my kitchen bench. The creamy vanilla, chocolate and pink hued swirls are most enticing and I may be tempted to snaffle down a piece before dinner. Hey, it’s an excellent way of turning the day around. My 12 year old daughter Jana mixed up this bit of baking bliss with a little guidance from her grandmother and it is perfect! The triple tested recipe from this month’s The Australian Women’s Weekly offered methodical, clear instructions that a novice home cook like my daughter was able to easily manage. Anyone who is nervous about baking should really pick up a couple of the “Weekly’s” cookbooks because they offer reliable recipes with consistent, delicious results. Give it a go during these school holidays. 

Marble Cake to serve 12

Ingredients for the cake
250 grams unsalted butter softened at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (275 grams) caster sugar
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups (335 grams) self raising flour, sifted
3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
pink food colouring (I used a 1/4 teaspoon of food colouring gel)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons extra milk


1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees conventional or 160 degrees fan forced. Grease and line a deep 22cm round cake tin.

2) Beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Then beat in each egg. Stir in the flour and milk until combined. 

3) Divide the mixture evenly into 3 bowls. Tint one batch with pink colouring, add the cocoa powder and milk to another and mix to combine and leave the third plain. 

4) Drop alternate heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into the cake tin. Once all the batter has been used, take a skewer and pull it backwards and forwards through the cake. Jana did this in a horizontal direction and then in a vertical direction. This is what the raw cake batter should look like. 


5) Place the cake in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for at least 5 minutes before turning gently onto a wire rack to cool. 

6) Once the cake is completely cool, spread with the icing. 

Ingredients for the icing
125 grams butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups (320 grams) icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Beat the butter using an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and milk in two batches and beat until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake.