Zebra Cake

This Zebra Cake is one master piece. Slathered in decadent chocolate cream cheese frosting, the real visual stunner happens when you cut into it and reveal the whirls and swirls of beautiful batter. Get ready to wow!

Zebra Cake

This recipe is perfect if you want to wow some guests, or even yourself, with your baking abilities. Zebra cake is created by combining vanilla and chocolate batter in your cake pan to create ‘zebra stripes‘. The best part of this decadent dessert after the moist addictive flavor, is how easy it is to make. You just whip up one quick batter and boom, you’re half way there. Let’s get into it!

Easy For All Bakers

No matter how experienced you are within the science that is baking, this recipe is more than accessible. The visuals of this cake are stunning once it’s sliced into and served up slathered in fudgy frosting. My mouth is watering just typing this out, so let’s quit talking and get baking.

Ingredients In Zebra Cake

Cake batter

• Flour – All purpose is all we need for our cake batter.
• Salt – We all know that our baked goods need salt right? Just checking…
• Leavening agents – Today we’re using both baking powder and baking soda to get volume and tenderness in our Zebra cake.
• Sugar – Just plain old granulated works perfectly fine for this recipe.
• Eggs – The binder in our batter.
• Milk – Feel free to use any kind of milk you have on hand for this recipe, fat content doesn’t matter.
• Oil – A light neutral tasting oil is what you’re looking for today, something like canola works well.
• Vanilla – Both our vanilla and chocolate batter need some vanilla extract, your secret weapon flavor booster.
• Cocoa powder – Any kind you have on hand, this will go in the second half of our divided batter for those dramatic zebra stripes.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream cheese – Softened at room temperature, use any fat content you’d like.
• Butter – Unsalted please, also softened at room temperature.
• Icing sugar – Using this kind of sugar helps us achieve a smooth frosting that binds well.
• Cocoa powder – We’re looking to achieve a rich fudgy chocolate icing here so go wild.
• Almond extract – This will give our frosting such an unexpected toasty, almost fruity flavor.
• Milk – We’re using this to thin out our frosting, add more or less as you see fit but keep in mind the consistency should be thick.
• Salt – Last but not least, don’t forget your salt!!

How To Make Zebra Cake

Cake

1. Preheat your oven: To 350 F degrees. Grease a cake pan in the meantime. I used an 8 inch springform pan and some cooking spray.
2. Combine the dry ingredients: The salt, flour, leavening agents, and sugar.
3. Combine the wet ingredients: Combine the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla extract.
4. Add the wet to the dry: Add your wet ingredients to your dry and mix until well combined, do not over mix your batter though! Divide the batter and add the cocoa powder to one half of your batter and combine.
5. Layer the zebra cake: Add one tablespoon of each batter to the cake pan, then alternate with batters to create the layers and repeat until finished. If you want thicker layers, add about 1/4 cup of batter at a time. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Soften the dairy: In a large bowl mix together the butter and cream cheese completely to soften it.
2. Assemble the frosting: Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, almond extract, some of the milk, and salt and beat until creamy. Thin out with milk as needed, however keep in mind the frosting should be quite thick.
3. Frost your cake: Be sure your cake is completely cool before frosting. Spread the frosting in a thick layer all over the cake. Top with berries if preferred, then slice up and serve!

Tips For Making The Best Zebra Cake

1. You can make this cake just as easily in a bundt pan if that’s what you have on hand or if you’d like a different shape to your Zebra Cake.
2. You can used boxed cake if you’d like to make the prep time even shorter for this recipe, it will come out moist and scrumptious as long as all the other directions are followed!
3. Sour cream can be added to the cake recipe to make the moisture level in this cake go off the charts, just 1/3 of a cup will do. If you find the batter is too wet with this addition, just add a bit more flour.

Storing Leftover Zebra Cake

This cake can be stored in the fridge for 3 – 4 days in an airtight container. If you’d like to freeze this recipe, be sure to wrap the cake unfrosted in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and it should last for up to 3 months, make the icing day of and allow the cake to thaw overnight. Enjoy!

Craving More Cake? Try These Recipes:

• Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake
• Hawaiian Cheesecake Bites
• Gooey Butter Cake
• Carrot Cake
• Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
• Hummingbird Cake
• Tres Leches Cake
• Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
• Red Velvet Cake
• German Chocolate Cake