This 3-layer features mesmerizing swirls of chocolate and vanilla, plus a silky chocolate cream cheese frosting. This marbled cake is easier than it looks because it starts with just 1 batter!

“I made this cake for my mom’s retirement party and it turned out amazing! The cake is light and moist and the icing isn’t super sweet, which is refreshing. The steps are spot on and I love all of Sally’s helpful tips. I have learned so much about baking because of the information she provides. I highly recommend this cake! “

You’re looking at chocolate and vanilla cakes baked together in a striking striped pattern. Pretty impressive, right? Much easier than you think to pull off, too. Like marble loaf cake but a little more flashy. Zebra cake is often baked as a single-layer cake or a Bundt cake, but I needed a fun and towering cake for a friend’s birthday. And an excuse to make chocolate cream cheese frosting!

*No zebras were harmed in the making of this cake. 😉

“This cake is delicious! It’s fun to make, and the final product looks astounding. The cake has a wonderfully soft and fluffy texture. And the frosting!! That chocolate cream cheese frosting has to be the best kind of frosting I have ever had. It’s creamy, smooth, chocolate-y, and downright perfect. Even my dad, who hates frosting, loved it. It’s nice because it’s not as tooth-decayingly sweet as normal buttercream. And the cream cheese adds a fabulous tang! This is definitely my new favorite chocolate frosting recipe. “

The cake batter follows a simple, familiar process. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then work on the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, then the sour cream and vanilla. Pour in the dry ingredients and then with the mixer running, slowly add the buttermilk.

The chocolate cake is made from the vanilla batter, so you don’t have to prepare two completely separate batters. YAY! Divide the batter in half and add cocoa powder to one.

But since we’re adding a dry and bitter ingredient to the chocolate batter, it will dry out the cake. A little sugar and warm milk or buttermilk solved that problem. (Warmth helps the cocoa powder bloom/dissolve.) Both the vanilla cake and chocolate cake are so moist. We did it!

You can also add a little espresso powder to the chocolate batter. Just to help bring out the chocolate flavor. This is an optional ingredient. You can find it in the coffee or baking aisle at the grocery store, or online.

This is a thick batter, which is important for this recipe because as you are layering the two batters together, it helps keep them separate, whereas a thin, runny batter would end up just spreading all together.

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Lining cake pans with parchment rounds is the trick I use every single time I bake a round cake, whether I’m making a 1-layer sprinkle cake, a 9-layer Smith Island cake, or today’s recipe. Store-bought pre-cut parchment rounds are convenient, but it’s really easy to just make them yourself. You can cut the exact pan size you need, whether you’re making a 6-inch cake, an 8-inch cake, or a 9-inch cake. If you don’t make a lot of round cakes, just cut them as you need them. If you bake a lot, cut many at a time and store them with your baking pans, ready for the next time you bake.

Very lightly grease the cake pan with butter or nonstick spray. Place the parchment paper round inside, and then grease the parchment, too. Yes, you grease the pan and then also grease the parchment. This creates an ultra-nonstick environment for your cake. The cake won’t stick to the pan, and the parchment round won’t stick to the cake. For more tips on this method, see Parchment Paper Rounds for Cakes.

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Now here’s where the zebra shows up! You create the beautiful zebra stripe pattern by layering the batters on top of each other. Before baking, the cakes look .

Start with a spoonful of 1 batter in the center of each of the pans, then place a spoonful of the other batter on top. Alternate between the 2 batters until you’ve filled the pans.

Every now and then, tap the pans on the counter and give them a little shake, to level the batter off and help it spread toward the edges of the pan.

Don’t worry about making this look perfect. The layers of the finished cake are going to look swirly and stripey—we aren’t trying to achieve perfectly straight lines here.

Bake the cakes and then let them cool completely before you make the…

Regular cream cheese frosting is one of my all-time favorites because it’s not as cloyingly sweet as American-style buttercream and it’s easier than, say, making Swiss meringue buttercream. It’s the creamiest of frostings with a silky smooth and velvety mouthfeel. With carrot cake, red velvet cake, banana cake, and pumpkin cake… it’s just the best!

But could we possibly improve on the perfection that is cream cheese frosting? By adding… chocolate?? Oh yes… we could indeed.

Chocolate buttercream, Nutella frosting, vanilla buttercream, or Swiss meringue buttercream would also taste fantastic on this zebra cake.

Once the cakes have baked and cooled, trim the tops using a cake leveler or a large serrated knife to create an even surface. A flat top ensures a sturdier and more stable layered cake.

If you’d like a little assistance with this part, I have a full post and video tutorial on how to assemble a layer cake.

Now the moment of truth. Cutting into the cake to see how those zebra stripes look!

“Sally, thank you for this cool and easy technique! I omitted the cocoa & used pink & green food coloring to make an Easter cake. My 11-year-old son helped & said ‘I like that this is a cool, not boring, way to make a cake.’ “

Cool and not boring? I’ll take that as a major compliment, coming from an 11-year-old!

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