marble cake

File:Shapiro's Delicatessen - October 2023 - Sarah Stierch 10.jpg, sliced to show the marble-like pattern inside the cake]]

File:Piškotová bábovka s kakaovou vlnou 04.jpg

File:Coffee-flavored_marble_loaf_cake.png

Marmor is the German word for marble. The idea of marble cake seems to have originated in early nineteenth century Germany.{{Cite book|last=Marks|first=Gil|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/849738985|title=Encyclopedia of Jewish food|date=2010|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-544-18631-6|location=Hoboken, N.J.|oclc=849738985}} The earliest version of marble cake consisted of a kugelhopf (sweet yeast bread), one half of which was colored with molasses and spices to achieve a dark colored batter.Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor (Oxford University Press: New York) 2004 [2007], Volume 1 (p. 162) {{ISBN?}} Bakers next began to do the same thing with sponge cake batter. The usage of chocolate in the Rhein-Ruhr area in the twentieth century has now made this a common version of marble cake across Germany and Austria.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

The cake was brought to America shortly before the Civil War, and the term marble cake was first recorded in English in September 29, 1859 issue of Illinois State Chronicle (Decatur). One popular variation of this recipe during Victorian times was “Harlequin cake,” which was baked with checkerboard patterns.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In the field of geology, the "Marble Cake Mantle" model refers to the theory of an earth wherein "elongated strips of subducted oceanic lithosphere... are stretched and thinned by the normal and shear strains in the convecting mantle, and are destroyed by being reprocessed at ocean ridges or, on the centimetre scale, by dissolution processes."{{cite web |last1=Turcotte |first1=Donald |last2=Allègre |first2=Claude |title=Implications of a two-component marble-cake mantle |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/323123a0 |website=Nature |publisher=Nature |access-date=12 November 2022}}

In politics, marble cake federalism, also known as cooperative federalism, is defined in contrast to dual federalism, also known as layer cake federalism. The metaphor of marble cake is meant to conceptualize how local, state, and federal governments have interacting, interrelated policy goals. The term was coined by American political scientist Morton Grodzins.{{Cite journal |last=Grodzins |first=Morton |title=American Political Parties and the American System |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/106591296001300409 |journal=Western Political Quarterly |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=974–998 |doi=10.1177/106591296001300409 |issn=0043-4078 |date=1960-12-01 |s2cid=154002750 |access-date=2022-11-12|url-access=subscription }}

In 2019, British-American television host John Oliver unveiled a {{cvt|600|sqft|adj=on}} marble cake on an episode of his comedy series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, featuring an image of Turkmenistan's autocratic president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow falling off a horse during a race, intended to satirize Berdimuhamedow's penchant for amassing world records. The cake was submitted to Guinness World Records for the biggest marble cake depicting a man falling off of a horse, but was denied – one of the conditions for certification was a non-disparagement agreement against Guinness, including its relationships with authoritarian regimes, which Oliver described as "clearly ridiculous".{{Cite magazine |last=Locker |first=Melissa |title=John Oliver Bakes Very Large Cake to Annoy Turkmenistan |url=https://time.com/5648682/john-oliver-turkmenistan-cake/ |date=2019-08-12 |access-date=2021-01-18 |magazine=Time}}{{Cite magazine |last=Romano |first=Nick |title=John Oliver's Turkmenistan segment takes a turn with a very massive cake |url=https://ew.com/tv/2019/08/12/john-oliver-cake-turkmenistan-guinness-world-records/ |date=2019-08-12 |access-date=2021-01-18 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly}}{{Cite web |last=Perkins |first=Dennis |title=John Oliver batters Guinness World Records' cozy relationship with stunt-happy dictators |url=https://www.avclub.com/john-oliver-batters-guinness-world-records-cozy-relatio-1837164322 |date=2019-08-12 |access-date=2021-01-18 |website=The A.V. Club}}{{cite news |last1=Bershidsky |first1=Leonid |title=Quiet Tyrannies Like Turkmenistan Aren’t a Laughing Matter |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2019-08-15/quiet-tyrannies-like-turkmenistan-aren-t-a-laughing-matter |access-date=17 January 2024 |work=www.bloomberg.com |date=15 August 2019}} {{As of|2024}}, the Guinness World Record for the largest marble cake is held by "Betty Crocker Middle East" for a {{convert|732|kg|2|adj=on}}, {{cvt|16|m2|adj=on}} cake baked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,{{Cite web |title=Largest marble cake |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/94531-largest-marble-cake |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522032027/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/94531-largest-marble-cake/ |archive-date=22 May 2020 |access-date=20 August 2020 |website=Guinness World Records}}{{Cite web |title=Betty Crocker sets Guinness World Record for largest marble cake |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1168061/corporate-news |work=Arab News |date=26 September 2017 |access-date=19 March 2022}}{{cite news | title=Betty Crocker-Panda bake the World's Largest Marble Cake to celebrate Saudi National Day | work=Saudi Gazette | date=25 September 2017 | url=http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/517910 | access-date=14 March 2022}} less than a third of the size of the cake shown on Last Week Tonight.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Sax |chapter=Lemon-Molasses Marble Cake |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xJKoxE0WtgC&pg=PA430 |title=Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |year=2000 |page=340 |isbn=0-618-00391-6 |oclc=43721945 |access-date=28 April 2009}}

{{Cakes}}

Category:German cakes