Avocado Marble Cake

Some people love avocados and some don't. I am on the side which adores this fruit to bits. I can eat avocados as it is, but mostly I prefer it in a smoothie or salad. My family is divided on this fruit as well. My hubby won't eat it as its high in purine and may cause gout, my eldest daughter wouldn't touch it, but my two younger ones love it as much as I do. When I saw this Avocado Marble Cake from Cake Whiz, I immediately put it on my growing to-bake list. This recipe quickly found its way to the top of that list when I saw some avocados on sale at the supermarket.

The most amazing thing about this cake is that it uses no butter or oil. The avocado "acts" as the oil/butter in this recipe and gives it a lovely moist texture. The texture is almost difficult to describe. It isn't light and fluffy like normal butter cakes and neither is it dense like pound cakes. If I have to compare it to something, I would say it is like the Chinese steamed egg cake (Ji Dan Gao) which is moist and slightly chewy. The chocolate batter added a chocolate-y taste to the cake which made it even more delicious. The best part was no one could tell there were any avocados in the cake and even the ones who do not touch this fruit at home ate it as well. 

I didn't make any changes to the recipe except that I cut down the sugar by half - that was sweet enough for me as I prefer my desserts not too sweet. I also had a little difficulty getting the avocado blended so I took 3 tbsp of milk from the 1 cup and added it to the avocado to make it easier to blend. 

Don't forget to participate in our Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event starting on 1st March 2013. This event is hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake (myself!). Hope that you can be the trend-setter of this event. 

Avocado Marble Cake (2 loaves 9x3x3 inches)

Recipe from here

Avocado Batter

• 1 avocado (pureed into a smooth paste so there are no lumps)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (Reduced to 1 1/4 cup)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (I used low-fat evaporated milk)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate batter to create the "marbling" effect:

• 1 1/2 cup avocado batter (same as above)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 4-5 tbsp of evaporated milk (more or lesss may be needed to make batter smooth)
• 5 tbsp sugar (I omitted this)

Method:

• Puree your avocado into a smooth paste so there are no lumps using a blender or food processor (I had a little difficulty getting the avocado blended so I took 3 tbsp of milk from the 1 cup and added it to the avocado to make it easier to blend).
• Place mixture into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and beat well. 
• Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until everything is smooth ...continue mixing for about 3 minutes until the batter becomes light green and creamy.
• Add, flour, fat free milk, evaporated milk, salt, baking powder and vanilla extract.
• Mix everything until the batter is well-blended. The batter will be thick. 
• Scoop out 1 1/2 cups of this avocado cake batter and put it in separate bowl for the chocolate batter. Add cocoa powder, sugar and evaporated milk. Mix until everything is smooth.
• Pour your avocado cake batter into 2 loaf pans. Fill them a little less than half-way each.
• Now, add random spoonfuls of chocolate batter on top of the avocado cake batter.
• Run a butter knife through the batter to create a "marbling" effect. You can use a toothpick too.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• Best served warm!