babovka / marble cake / poop balls ;)

don't worry, this recipe has nothing to do with poop - the name "poop balls" was made up by 2 silly 14 yr old girls.....who accidentally added too much cocoa, which made the batter too thick, so they decided to make balls out of it. and guess what it resembled? they ended up eating the "poop"/cocoa balls raw and never got to any baking. but i definately recommend baking it, it's delicious!

this is the first recipe i learned from my wonderful mom(...her plate on the photo :) and i am dedicating it to my old childhood friend Erica :)...dobrou chut!

ingredients:
300 g medium-ground flour (polohruba)
150 g sugar
1 vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
250 ml whipping cream
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbsp dutch cocoa

directions:
- excluding the cocoa, mix everything together until the batter is smooth
- put about 1/ 4 of the batter into a separate bowl and mix in the cocoa
- then pour the batter into a greased and floured form - first vanilla, then cocoa, then the rest of the vanilla (you can play around with the proportions ;)
- bake for approx 45min at 150° C (i always test with a toothpick). i also add a small oven-safe pot of water on the oven rack to keep the cake moist. tip: sometimes when the top of the cake is starting to brown but the inside is still raw, i turn down the temp and let it bake slower
- when finished, take out of the oven, cover with a tea towel and let it cool down. then put plate on top, flip, sprinkle some powdered sugar and serve :)!