Snow Day Marble Cake

You may have heard about the giant blizzard we got in Boston this week! It was seriously epic.  With a travel ban in effect and a snow day from work, we definitely needed to cook up a little something sweet to enjoy when we weren't busy playing in the snow.  I picked this recipe because we already had all the ingredients at home, plus I wanted to try out a recipe from my new Christmas cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi.  This little cake is perfect blizzard food: easy to whip up, perfectly delicious, and with a fun twist that makes it special.  If you don't have peppermint extract on hand, you could sub in any flavor that pairs with chocolate (Dorie suggests orange extract or a bit of powdered cardamom). The cake has a moist crumb and keeps well...I won't blame you if you sneak a piece for breakfast!

Snow Day Marble Cake (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi)
Makes one loaf cake

Baking spray (or butter and flour)
2 cups flour
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 T room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
4 ounces melted dark chocolate, cooled slightly

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Stack two baking sheets (or use an insualted baking sheet), and place a loaf pan on top. Spray with baking spray or butter and flour.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each egg.  Add the milk and flour mixture on low speed, in alternating additions (flour-milk-flour-milk-flour), beating until just combined between each addition.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix briefly to make sure everything is well combined.
5. Transfer half the batter to another bowl.  Mix the peppermint extract into half the batter, and the melted chocolate into the other half.
6. Dollop alternating spoonfuls of the batter into the loaf pan, and then run a sharp knife through everything a few times.  Don't overmix -- you want distinct swirls.
7. Bake 80-90 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through and tenting the cake with foil if needed to prevent overbrowning.  A tester should come out clean when the cake is finished.
8. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.