Cake Madness - Day 20

Cake of the Day: "Zebra" Marble Cake

When I saw the idea for this cake here: Zebra Cake, I thought it would be fun to try. Her pictures didn't look as much like a zebra as some that I had seen online, but I trusted her recipe, so that's the one I decided to use (I learned my lesson after the Peanut Butter Cup Cake). Of course, while I was pondering how to make this cake special, my mind went into overdrive and I got way ahead of myself because of my childhood (and beyond) love of Little Debbie "Zebra Cakes". I figured if I could make a "Zebra Zebra Cake" that would be just amazing, so I set my mind to it, and failed :( 

It's not that this cake wasn't good, it tasted just fine, but the Zebra part of the Zebra Cake sure didn't work. It started out looking okay:

Zebra rings

Maybe it was due to me being impatient and pouring the alternating batters into the pan too quickly, but when I cut into the cake to add the cream filling (inspired by Little Debbie, recipe here: Vanilla Cream Filling) it was clear it did not look like zebra stripes (or rings considering the direction I cut it).

Mottled marble cake

Oh well, too late now, so I proceeded to add the vanilla cream filling (I'm sure glad I did otherwise this would have been one boring cake), and make the decorations on the cake make up for the lack of zebra on the inside:

"Zebra" frosting

 So, needless to say, I was a little disappointed with this cake (it didn't help that I was already tired, hungry, stressed, and had a headache while I was making it . . .maybe that's why it didn't work, not enough love went into this cake?). It was kind of dense, and just okay, but cake is cake, and my coworkers were still appreciative. Here are some of their comments:

• Good. Cake was dense and almost tasted like a good bread
• LONG LIVE FEBRUARY

You win some, you lose some. At least in my case, I get to try again tomorrow :)