Easy Chocolate Marble Yogurt Cake has become a basic recipe in my house. It’s light, fluffy, moist, delicious, and ready in no time. The perfect coffee cake to share with your family and kids around breakfast, coffee break or dessert. This beautiful marble cake recipe will never fail you.
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I like all things yogurt cake. Wait, whaaat? Let me explain. In France, the typical coffee cake is a plain yogurt cake, usually prepared with 1 yogurt container as a measurement unit reference for all of the ingredients. To me, it’s the easiest cake recipe you can possibly find, and there’s a reason why most French kids learn how to bake it from the youngest age. I shared the recipe of this yogurt cake (the so-called “Gâteau au yaourt”) last year, and I’m back with a new version today.
Because the yogurt cake uses a plain batter, it’s indeed very easy to adapt the recipe in so many different ways, adding fruits or chocolate chips to the batter for instance, but it goes far beyond these two simple ideas. Today I turned the classic yogurt cake into a marble cake – it’s actually a recipe I’ve been making over and over again and it always turns out perfect so I figured I absolutely needed to share it with you.
A marble yogurt cake
Without any further ado, let’s start with an obvious statement here: this recipe is not your regular chocolate marble cake. The classic version is rich, very buttery, a little bit on the heavy side (but don’t get me wrong here, still very very good!).
With the addition of one single ingredient, a plain yogurt, the marble cake turns out completely different with a light, fluffy and super moist texture. Note that you can use Greek or non-Greek yogurt, and vanilla-flavored yogurt (instead of plain) is fine too.
For the rest, the recipe is resembling to the classic yogurt cake with 2 exceptions:
- The use of unsweetened cocoa powder to make the marble swirls in the cake. I add it to one third of the cake batter, but it doesn’t need to be exact, and you could instead mix it with one half of the batter if you wish. Also, feel free to add more unsweetened cocoa powder, but not more than one Tablespoon at a time.
- The use of melted unsalted butter instead of vegetable oil in a classic yogurt cake. This enables the cake to hold its shape when slicing and adds some rich buttery flavors, without being on the heavy side thanks to the yogurt. To me it’s just the right balance of everything in terms of texture. That being said, you could totally substitute melted butter with vegetable oil; just be aware that the texture will be slightly different.
How to marble a cake?
Now the fun part (or is it fun, really?): how to marble a cake? For some of you, it might seem challenging and a little too advanced. But it doesn’t have to be. While you’ll find many tutorials guiding you through the different steps (from scooping one or two Tablespoons of the vanilla batter, then of the chocolate one, then use a skewer to do the marble), my version of marbling a cake is easy and straight-forward:
- Start with pouring one layer of the vanilla cake batter in the bottom of the loaf pan.
- Pour roughly half of the chocolate cake batter on top, without being too careful about how it looks like.
- Then add the remaining vanilla and chocolate cake batter in alternate layers.
I insist: it’s ok if it looks imperfect, that’s how we like it, so don’t stress too much about it. You’ll have a different result every single time, and sometimes the fun surprise to see some lovely shapes inside the cake.
Can I make it in a springform pan?
Absolutely! I love making this marble yogurt cake in a loaf pan as it enables the cake to bake evenly. When using a springform, the center can remain slightly gooey if you don’t pay attention to it. Another reason why I usually go for a loaf pan over a springform: it’s easier to slice and serve.
Whatever you decide, make sure you choose the right dimensions for your pan. I recommend a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan or a 9-inch (23 cm) spring form. If your pan is a little bigger, you may need to adjust the recipe proportions accordingly.
Favorite basic recipes in a loaf pan:
- Moist Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
- Super Moist Buttermilk Banana Bread
- Best Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
- Double Chocolate Banana Bread
- Easy Orange Pound Cake
- Moist and Tender Carrot Cake
- Perfect Vegan Banana Bread
To go the extra mile, check out my Easy Baking Recipes (with minimal ingredients – and effort!), in which you’ll find my go-to cake and baking recipes when I have very little time ahead and still want to create this wow among my guests.
Easy Chocolate Marble Yogurt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Cakes and Pies
- Cuisine: French
Easy Chocolate Marble Yogurt Cake has become a basic recipe in my house. It’s light, fluffy, moist, delicious, and ready in no time.
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Ingredients
For all measurements, use 1 standard yogurt container* (about 4.2 ounces / 120g), or follow the metric measurements below:
- 1 container (4.2 ounces / 120g) plain yogurt**
- 2 containers (3.5 ounces / 100g) caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 container (3.8 ounces / 110g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 containers (7.9 ounces / 225g) all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease the bottom and the sides of a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan or a 9-inch (23 cm) spring form with melted butter. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, pour the plain yogurt. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter. Whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- Scoop ⅓ of the cake batter into a small bowl gently stir in the cocoa powder until well-mixed.
- Pour one layer of the vanilla cake batter into the prepared loaf pan, then spoon a few spoonfuls of the chocolate cake batter. Repeat until all the batter has been used up.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top is browning too fast, tent it with a piece of aluminum foil. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Notes
* Depending on where you live, you can find different standard sizes for the yogurt container: 5 ounces (140g) in the United States, 4.4 ounces (125g) in France, 4.2 ounces (120g) in Canada. Good news is: whatever container size you use between the 3 mentioned above, the recipe works with the x1, x2, x3-container rules (1 container yogurt, 2 containers sugar, 3 containers all-purpose flour) and you won’t need any additional egg. Remember that this is a very forgiving recipe and the difference in measurements is too small to make such a difference in the final cake result.
** For the choice of yogurt, try t go for plain yogurt over any flavored ones although vanilla flavor is fine). Also, note that both Greek or non-Greek yogurt will do. I personally prefer full-fat but low-fat works too.
Did you make this recipe?
Lastly, if you make this Easy Chocolate Marble Yogurt Cake, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!
Linda
Would like to see the recipe in cups not grams or ounces and containers.
Del’s Cooking Twist
hello, the specificity of this type of cake is to use the small yogurt container as a measuring tool. You can also use 1/2 cup instead (everywhere you see “container”) in the recipe. I hope this helps!
Chi
It is tasty, might be slightly dry mixture to make it marble. More like becoming two colour cake! It would be good to have split weight for cocoa batter and plain one because if I just add coco powder on the halved mixture after adding flour, it gets too dry.
Delphine Fortin
Noted! Thank you for your feedback, it helps! 🙂 Del
Angela
Hi there – Just tried making this loaf today. The batter tasted very good, but was a different texture than I expected – much thicker and stickier than I am used to for bread and cake recipes. Any ideas as to why that might have happened? Also, I live in the US so converted the ingredients to US cups – do you have the conversion to US measurements?
Delphine Fortin
Hi Angela! I usually try my recipes in both US cups and grams, and as such, it should be just fine for this marble yogurt cake, that should turn out moist and tender, in no way thick and sticky. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out as expected for you. I would suggest to follow the recipe instructions carefully and take your time while baking the recipe, it should turn out just fine, hopefully! I hope this helps. Del
Ada
Hi Del!
Would I be correct in thinking that the sugar grams measurement you’ve written down in the recipe is incorrect? You’ve put 2 containers of sugar as weighing 100g when 1 container of yogurt weighs 120g, which seems a bit off 🙂
(I’m also unsure about the flour grams measurement, which looks like it could be a bit low for 3 containers?)
Cheers!
Delphine Fortin
Hi Ada! Well, thing is, when using a container, the metric measurements are rarely exact. This is why I recommend to choose either the yogurt container/cup as a unit reference for all ingredients or to measure each of them in grams, using a scale. Good news is: the recipe works both ways, with similar results! The flour measurements are correct with a possible margin of error (this can also be slightly different depending on the brand you use), and the sugar is a little bit on the low side but I promise you won’t need too much sugar anyway 🙂 I hope this helps! Del
Anju
I made this recipe using a Yogurt container (140g) but the batter turned out to be way more than I needed to make a loaf pan cake. Measurements seemed off to me but I decided to go with it because I don’t have much experience with cakes. It did seem like that batter would be more than I need while mixing it but I thought I should follow the recipe as it is. I really wanted it to be turn out fine. However, I had to pour the cake batter into two pans and it turned out undercooked even thought I cooked it for extra 10-15 minutes at 300 F. I think it was undercooked because I was not able to mix it properly since it was too much.
I am trying to find ways to use undercooked cake now. Can you suggest anything? How can I use it for bread pudding?
Delphine Fortin
Hello! I’m so sorry to hear the cake didn’t turn out as expected. The fact that you are using a 140g yogurt container explains that the volume of batter was a little bit bigger and maybe didn’t fit your loaf pan – sorry about that. As for the baking time, it should be 350°F (not 300°F), maybe that explains why the cake was underbaked. As for now, I would probably use the cake to make a sort of bread pudding indeed, that sounds like a great idea! You could also add some fruits before placing in the oven again (a mix of berries for instance would do great). I like that you’re finding ways to use it anyway, and I’m pretty sure that with a little bit of creativity it will work out just fine. Best of luck! Del
Denise
Can we get the ingredients in American measurements?
Fliu
Merci pour la recette!
Je me demandais si c’est possible de mettre le double de poudre de cacao dans toute la pâte à gâteau?
Je cherche une recette de gâteau au chocolat (j’adore ton classique french chocolate cake mais je cherche quelque chose à la consistance plus “cakey”, de préférence pas trop sucrée, mon petit d’un an n’arrête pas de vouloir tout me taxer et je préfère éviter qu’il s’habitue à trop de sucre si tôt, et si possible avec de la poudre de cacao).
J’ai beaucoup de mal à trouver car toutes les recettes de chocolate cake à l’américaine sont pour des gros gâteaux avec glaçage (aussi je trouve curieux de mettre leur quantités d’eau), les français utilisent toujours une tablette entière de chocolat à pâtisser, et en Suède où je vis on ne connaît que kladkakka qui est très sympa mais me sort un peu par le trou des yeux (je ne sais même plus parler correctement français donc tu me pardonneras si j’utilise la mauvaise expression…).
Merci d’avance, et j’en profite pour saluer ton travail que je suis silencieusement depuis un petit moment, toute mes félicitations pour ta petite brioche qui pousse, j’imagine que le climat actuel ne favorise pas la sérénité mais que tu parviens tout de même à profiter de cette parenthèse unique dans ta vie.
Delphine Fortin
Bonjour et merci pour ton petit message depuis la Suède, un pays qui m’est cher comme tu le sais 🙂 Alors oui, pour répondre à ta question, je dirais qu’il est parfaitement possible de mettre le double de cacao en poudre non sucré (surtout pas du O’Boy!) dans cette recette sans que la texture n’en soit trop impactée. Une petite astuce pour activer ses arômes : mélanger le cacao en poudre avec juste un peu de sirop d’érable/agave/miel dans un premier temps, avant de l’ajouter à la pâte. En espérant que cela te donne quelques éléments de réponse. Del