Marble Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, lightly mist 3 6-inch diameter cake pans** with non-stick spray, and line them with circles cut from parchment.

Place the cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Add the softened butter, and mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles damp sand (about 1 minute).

Add the eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula after each addition.

Stir in the sour cream until smooth.

Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, and stir in the milk and vanilla.

Beat the batter on medium speed for about a minute to a minute and a half, to aerate the cake batter and build the cake's structure.

Stir the cocoa and hot water together in a smaller bowl, then fold about half the cake batter into the cocoa mixture until blended.

Divide the batters equally between the 3 prepared pans, using the tip of a sharp knife to swirl the chocolate and vanilla cake batters together.

Bake the cake layers until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part of a cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (approx. 30 to 40 minutes).

Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting with Easy Chocolate Frosting.