Mini Marble Pound Cake

An hour or so before beginning, set all of the ingredients for the pound cake on the counter and let them come to room temperature.

Then, butter a 5 3/4” x 3” x 2” mini loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer. Beat this mixture for 3-4 minutes, until it becomes fluffy and pale yellow. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Next, add the baking powder and half of the flour. Mix to combine, then add 3 tablespoons of the milk.

Add the remaining flour and mix just until combined—do not over-mix the batter.

Scoop 2 heaping tablespoons of the batter into a small bowl. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon of milk, espresso powder and cocoa powder. Stir very well at first. It will seem like it won’t come together, but it will.

Pour the vanilla batter into the mini loaf pan. Then, dot the chocolate batter on top and use a toothpick or small knife to swirl the chocolate batter into the vanilla batter.

Bake for 38-42 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Allow the pound cake to cool for a few minutes before dumping it out of the pan onto a wire rack to finish cooling.