If you ask me what the first cake I had ever tried was... I would say its this Zebra cake my grandma used to make. We call it Zebra cake, most people call it a marble cake. It's simple, fun to make, and is the best with a cup of tea. Whatever way, I love this cake. That smell when it's baking, brings me back to grandma's kitchen in an instant. 

The first recipe for this cake I found in my mom's books calls for an obscene amount of sugar! So, I tried playing around with some ratios and making it GF, Keto friendly and sugar free. The sugar free version was a fail, btw. So, no, don't do that. I tried making it Keto friendly and no- don't do that either. my favorite - even better then the original is one I made with just almond flour! You guys, IT's AMAZING! so moist and perfect.

The other day I was looking through mom's recipe books and found a ripped recipe book. I started to flip the pages, attempting to read the Russian handwriting. I found the perfect recipe for the "Zebra Cake", and made two cakes. One with just almond flour, so- GF. And one with just regular white all purpose flour. I wanted to compare them side by side. The one with the plain flour was pretty. It's tall and the marbling inside is perfect.  Looks like zebra stripes when it's cut into. The one with the almond flour is not very tall, and the zebra/marbling is not very perfect. I still choose the GF, almond flour version. It's just too good. I have the almond flour zebra cake pictured. 

Here's what you'll need: for the almond flour version

• 5 eggs

• 1.5 cups sugar

• 1 heaping cup of sourcream - so, don't level it, AND, FULL fat.

• half a stick of butter-room temperature - the recipe calls for 50grams. I used half a stick

• 1/5 tsp. almond extract (Optional)

• 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp white vinegar

• 3 cups almond flour (or 2 cups sifted all purpose flour)

• 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder - sifted.

To get started - Put the butter in the mixer. Beat the butter with the sugar and add the sour cream. Add all the eggs and beat all that together for about a minute. Add almond extract if using. in a small bowl, put baking soda and vinegar and watch the fizzle, and tip it into the batter quick. Turn the mixer to low/stir, and add the flour.

Divide the batter in half. Leave one half vanilla and add the cocoa powder the other half and mix well.

Have a round spring pan ready with lined parchment paper and the sides of it greased. Start with putting two Tbsp of the vanilla batter in the middle of the pan, follow with two Tbsp of chocolate in the middle of the vanilla, and repeat till you are out of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min or test with a tooth pick after 40 min. IF the tooth pick comes out clean, your golden. Take the cake out and let cool on a cooling rack, out of the spring pan. Once it cools, dust with powdered sugar and dig in. my boys eat half the cake in one sitting. So, it's safe to say, they like it.  

I would top it with a dollop of whipping cream, but, really it doesn't need much. Just a dusting of powder sugar and a cup of tea. Give it a go and enjoy!