Lorraine Pascale's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Zebra Cake

It is no secret to those that know me that I'm a big fan of Lorraine Pascale. Her recipes have brought a fresh take on tired TV cookery shows that seem to have become a bit same-y in recent times. It is not easy to bring new things to the table, when you are on your third TV series and book. And yet, Lorraine has pleasantly surprised me by living up to her previous standards, and bringing out recipes that make me go "I want to try that!" every single episode. I have already tried two of the cakes from this current series and am already planning the third (the "let them eat cake" cake). But I thought this deserved a special attention. One of the reasons is that it is simply so different to anything you've seen in other books or indeed shops, but also because it's something that can only be done with a large, hearty cake. Recent times I've grown a little tired of cupcakes, since I've now exhausted pretty much every variant that there is. But now Lorraine has convinced me that cakes are just the thing to fill this void, especially when you can see how much more there is to be done with them.

So, the simplicity in the recipe derives from two parts - the cake mixture is really just a traditional marble cake set up, where you take one mixture and divide into two, having one vanilla flavour, and one with cocoa powder added. To compensate for this, the chocolate mix has slightly less flour so that the consistencies are equal, but to replace the lost amount of boost from the less self-raising flower, a little extra baking powder is added. Lorraine also takes the extra touch and adds orange zest to the chocolate flavour mix, which really gives depth to the overall taste.

The recipe is taken from Lorraine's third book "Fast Fresh and Easy Food", a great book, with lots of other awesome recipes in, including the "Let them eat cake, cake" which provided inspiration for my jewel box cake. It's quite reduced in most outlets now, so if you are interested in this cake, grab yourself a bargain and you might find some other great recipes you'll love.

If, however, you don't have the book, here is the ingredients list:

250 ml sunflower (or other flavourless oil, like pomace

 olive or walnut oil, plus extra, for greasing)

250 g caster sugar

100 ml semi-skimmed milk

4 medium eggs (at room temperature)

A few drops of vanilla extract

300 g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

25 g cocoa powder

zest of one orange

Secondly, the trick in this cake is to really add 250 ml oil. Don't be tempted to replace the oil with melted butter a) because this doesn't mix as well and has a habit of seeping out of mixes, and b) the mixture will not spread out as well as the butter starts to solidify. I used 250 ml pomace olive oil, which has much less flavour than extra virgin olive oil, and was totally undetectable in the finished cake. When combined with all the other ingredients, the cocoa powder, vanilla, orange zest and eggs, most oil flavours will be drowned out. Having said that, I'm sure it would add an extra twist to the taste to use a nut oil, such as walnut, almond or linseed. Might have to try that next time.

The reason that this mix is required to be so liquid is that it has to be piped into each other, layer by layer through two, very large, separate piping bags. I got these quite cheaply from Amazon and they worked a treat:

Since these are quite large and heavy to work with, I'd recommend to secure the ends, so the mixture doesn't seep out of the back. You can see in the photo, I've tried to tie a knot with what was left of the bag, but it was quite full, so I'd recommend a food bag clip if you have them. 

So armed with two piping bags, now comes the messy part: cut the end of the piping bags to create a small hole, and begin to pipette a couple of tablespoons worth of one mixture into the centre of a lined circular cake tin, then swap to the other mix, and pipe about the same amount into the middle of the first part, allowing the mixture to spread out. It takes a little patience and maybe a couple of gos to get the hang of it, but keep at it, adding each layer like so:

Continue until you've used up all of the cake mix, being careful to aim carefully in the middle, so that the circles don't migrate to the side. It should end up looking something like this:

Then pop it into the oven at 180°C for about 35 to 45 minutes, until a skewer put in the middle comes out clean. It will be golden brown on the top:

But when you slice into it, the hidden zebra stripes are revealed!

As we had a few people round, it disappeared pretty quick!

This cake not only looks good, but tastes good, so I'd recommend it to everyone - having patience with the fiddly bits is really worth it! :)

What's your experience with the crouching tiger, hidden dragon cake? Was it easy for you, or would you like to have some tips? What do you think of Lorraine's cooking style and recipes? Any comments, just type below and I'll answer!