Sugar-free Marble cake

This super moist sugar-free marble cake is naturally sweetened with apple juice reduction, making it a healthy breakfast, perfect dessert, afternoon tea treat, or lunchbox snack.

Reducing refined sugar but still want a little sweet treat? This fabulous marble cake is delicious and healthy so that you can indulge guilt-free.

The secret to this recipe is using reduced apple juice instead of white sugar.

It makes the cake taste like a regular one but has much fewer calories. You will be surprised how good this tastes when you try it out yourself.

Apple juice reduction contains natural sugars absorbed into the body slowly, so they don't cause spikes in blood sugar levels.

It makes the cake perfect for people with diabetes or anyone who wants to avoid fast-acting carbohydrates.

You can make your own homemade apple juice reduction from fresh organic fruit. Or you can use store-bought unsweetened applesauce if desired.

Another reason why I love baking with apple juice reduction is its ability to bring a moist texture to baked goods without adding fat or calories. And this moist marble cake is perfect proof.

Its texture resembles the one of the pound cake, with two alternating layers with different flavors. 

What is marble cake?

A marble cake is a cake with lines of different colors made by blending light and dark batter.

It means you need two batters (for example, vanilla and chocolate) to create a marble cake.

The easiest way to make it is to prepare a batch of the vanilla batter (aka base batter).

Then, separate half of the vanilla batter in a different bowl and flavor it with cocoa powder.  

Why you should try this recipe

1. Making this healthy marble cake from scratch, you will learn to make one of the easiest no-sugar-added desserts.
2. The recipe is simple and fun to bake with kids around. Invite them over for a joyous activity - swirling through the batter to get the famous marble effect.
3. This almond marble cake is naturally sweetened without any artificial flavor.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

To make this sugar-free marble cake recipe, be sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.

Almond flour: use store-bought fine almond flour, not almond meal (my favorite almond flour is the one by Anthony's Goods).

Eggs: the recipe calls for large eggs. Use an egg separator to separate the egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are chilled. Then bring the whites and yolks to room temperature,

Vanilla bean: use seeds scraped from the vanilla bean or replace them with ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Flour: use all-purpose flour to make the cake.

Baking powder: it is a leavening agent used to make the recipe.

Cocoa powder: unsweetened cocoa powder is used here.

Butter: the recipe calls for unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled.

Apple juice reduction: it is used as a sugar substitute. Please, follow the recipe and make the apple juice reduction yourself. You can use store-bought unsweetened applesauce instead.

Apple juice reduction also makes a big difference giving the moist texture to the almond flour marble cake.

How to make sugar-free marble cake

To make the vanilla cake batter, combine flour, almond flour, and seeds of the vanilla bean in a large mixing bowl.

Add 2.6 oz. (75 g) apple juice reduction, ½ egg white, and egg yolk to the flour mixture and mix with a hand whisk. Add melted butter, slightly cooled, and mix (photo 1).

Beat 2 ½ egg whites and 0.7 oz. (20 g) apple juice reduction in a separate medium bowl using an electric mixer (photo 2).

Add the egg white mixture to the principal preparation and combine it with a rubber spatula (photo 3). 

To make the chocolate cake batter, combine cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, and almond flour in a large bowl.

Add 2.6 oz. (75 g) apple juice reduction, ½ egg white, egg yolk to dry ingredients, and mix with a hand whisk. Add melted, cooled butter and mix (photo 4).

Beat 2 ½ egg whites and 0.7 oz. (20 g) apple juice reduction in a separate bowl using a hand mixer (photo 5).

Add the beaten egg whites to the butter mixture and combine with a rubber spatula (photo 6). 

Preheat oven to 295 degrees F/145 degrees C. Butter and flour a bread loaf pan.

Take the part of the vanilla batter and scoop it with a large spoon into the prepared pan in a down-up-down pattern.

Then take the chocolate mixture and scoop a dollop of the batter into empty spaces (between the vanilla batter) to create a checkerboard-like design on the bottom of the pan.

Repeat procedure for the second layer, making a second checkerboard-like pattern on top of the first (you will end up with two cake layers).

You should alternate colors: if a vanilla batter square is on the bottom, place the chocolate batter square on the top (photo 7). 

The easiest way is to leave this pattern like a checkerboard. Or you can create a marble effect.

To do so, swirl through the batter with a butter knife: make rounded vertical and long zig-zags from one side of the pan to another.

Making vanilla and chocolate swirls in different ways will bring a different result in marbling the cake.

For the best results, don't over swirl; otherwise, you might lose the marble effect.

Bake the cake in the middle position of the preheated oven for 1 hour.

Take the marble loaf from the oven, let it cool for a few minutes (photo 8), and remove it from the cake tin while warm. Then, place it on a wire rack to cool down.

Recipe variations

You can replace almond flour with hazelnut flour to bring another nutty taste and flavor to your marble cake.

Or make the vanilla cake (omit cocoa powder) and add ½ cup (85 g) unsweetened chocolate chips (100% cacao).

Finally, you can cover the cake with sugar-free chocolate glaze if desired.

Storage

Store this cake in an airtight container for up to 2 to 3 days.

Expert tips

1. Use one of your favorite cake pans to make the cake. To calculate ingredients, use this simple Cake Pan Converter.
2. It's a great idea to add scraped vanilla seeds to the cocoa mixture to bring a more intense vanilla flavor.

Frequently asked questions

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from www.elle.fr/Elle-a-Table.