Swirly Pound Cake

I tried these chocolate-vanilla marbled madeleines, but they turned out to be a big disappointment. They didn’t look good, they were dry and a bit bland… So that left me with a bit of a craving for a good chocolate-vanilla marbled confection. Enter this swirly pound cake that hit all the right notes! 

It’s served with whipped cream mixed with sweetened condensed milk. I’ve found two kinds of vegan sweetened condensed milk here, as you can see on the photo – the coconut kind comes in 7-oz. cans, while the soy kind comes in 11-oz. containers, which are not convenient for this recipe. That being said, the point is a bit moot if you don’t have lactose-free whipping cream, which I’ve never seen in the States. You are free to use a vegan whipped topping, but those come already sweetened; or you could just omit it. I do recommend the lactose-free sweetened condensed milk in the cake, though! I’m sure you could google your way to a homemade version, but since it’s become readily available for me, I didn’t bother. 

1 ½ cups cake flour (or 3 Tbsp. corn starch, topped up with all-purpose flour) 

1 tsp. baking powder 

½ tsp. kosher salt 

2 sticks (1 cup) lactose-free butter, at room temperature 

½ cup sugar 

1 ½ tsp. vanilla 

3 large eggs, at room temperature 

1 14-oz. can of lactose-free sweetened condensed milk, divided (see note above) 

1 Tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa powder 

2 Tbsp. hot water 

1 cup lactose-free whipping cream (see note above) 

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. 

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Using an electric mixer on medium-to-high speed, cream butter, sugar and vanilla for about 4 minutes, or until light in color and fluffy. 

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Scrape down the sides and continue to beat for a minute. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Then pour in ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk and beat until the batter just becomes smooth. 

In a small bowl, add cocoa and hot water and stir until dissolved. 

Place 1 cup batter into a small mixing bowl. Stir in cocoa mixture. 

Spoon batters into the prepared pan, alternating. Use a butter knife to make a zigzag pattern; avoid overdoing it (so colors stay distinct). 

Bake in the center of the oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean (you can tent the pan with foil if your cake gets too dark, but that wasn’t an issue for me). Remove from oven. Immediately invert, remove sheet of parchment, and transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 90 minutes (I admit I hadn’t read this properly and let it cool mostly in the pan). 

Up to an hour before serving, make whipped cream: Pour remaining condensed milk and cream into a cold large metal bowl. Using a whisk, begin to whisk until it has doubled in volume, has pillowy soft peaks, and dollops easily off a spoon. Top each slice with whipped cream. Store extra cake in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.