Marble Cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (top and bottom heat) and thoroughly grease a 30 cm loaf pan.

Cream the soft butter, sugar and a pinch of salt until smooth and most of the sugar has dissolved.

Separate the eggs and gradually beat the egg yolks into the butter-sugar mixture until light and creamy.

Mix Type 1050 flour with baking powder, sift it over the mixture and briefly stir in with 250 ml milk to form a smooth batter.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold one third into the batter, then gently fold in the rest with a spatula.

If the batter is very firm, stir in 2–3 tablespoons of milk until it falls thickly from the spoon.

Pour two thirds of the light batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface.

Mix the remaining batter with cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk until an even dark batter forms.

Spread the dark batter over the light batter and use a fork to draw spiral movements from bottom to top to create the marbling.

Place the pan on the lowest rack and bake the cake for about 60 minutes.

Remove the cake, let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.