Zebra Cake

Zebra Cake Vanilla Zebra Cake(Eggless)  -  Nandita Pai Shirali

Ingredients

Vanilla Batter

Maida | All Purpose Flour - 1.5 cups

Curd - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Oil - 1/2 cup

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Chocolate Batter

Maida | All Purpose Flour - 1 cups

Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup

Instant Coffee Powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Oil - 1/2 cup

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Method

First, grease or line a baking tray and keep it ready before you proceed to make the batters. 

Take two mixing bowls. In one we will make the vanilla batter and in the second, the chocolate batter.

How to make the Vanilla batter?

• Beat the yogurt and ensure all lumps are removed. Add in the sugar and mix well.
• Add baking powder and baking soda to this mixture and mix well.
• Set aside this mixture for 5 mins until small bubbles appear on the surface.
• Add vanilla extract and oil to this mixture and mix all the ingredients well.
• Add the flour in parts and gently fold in the batter until no more dry flour is seen.

How to make the Chocolate batter?

• Beat the yogurt and ensure all lumps are removed. Add in the sugar and mix well.
• Add baking powder and baking soda to this mixture and mix well.
• Set aside this mixture for 5 mins until small bubbles appear on the surface.
• Add vanilla extract and oil to this mixture and mix all the ingredients well.
• Add the flour, cocoa powder and coffee powder in parts and gently fold in the batter until no more dry flour is seen.

--> You can prepare both the batters simultaneously, if that suits you. I did that.

While you are almost done making the batter, pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees.

How to layer the Zebra cake?

• Take the greased bowl and drop a dollop of vanilla batter right in the centre.
• Now, take a scoop of the chocolate batter and gently drop it exactly over the vanilla batter ensuring it does not bleed into the vanilla batter but gently flattens and pushes it outwards.
• Now, take another scoop of the vanilla batter and drop it right over the chocolate batter, again ensuring that it does not smudge into the previous two layers, but gently pushes it outwards.
• Repeat this until you can you get pretty symmetric circles of alternate colours and until the center layer is no bigger than a little dot. The first layer that you poured, would reach outwards and touch the sides of the cake pan.
• I added in a teeny bit of walnuts right in the middle just to enhance the pretty-factor :)
• Bake in pre-heated oven for 40-35 mins until the top of the vanilla layers turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow it to cool for 10 minutes and then transfer on to a wire rack to completely cool!

How to decorate it using colour paper and skewers?

• Cut colour paper into diamonds such that when they fold in half, they form triangles. 
• Take a fancy thread, (I couldn't find one, so used regular thread!) and cut the desired length (slightly more than the diameter of the cake).
• Tie the thread on two skewers allowing for at least 3-4 inches of space from the bottom.
• Place the colour paper diamonds on the thread such that they fold over the thread and form little triangles, stick the two sides together.
• Write little birthday messages on them.
• Insert the skewers into the cake such that it forms a cute little banner holding the personalised birthday message :)