Instead of a gluten free pound cake, this is a gluten free marble cake. Chocolate and vanilla cake batters are marbled together, and then baked until they're pretty. Some might call this a zebra cake, but I'm not so sure it really looks like zebra stripes.
If all you expect is some chocolate and vanilla marbles and swirls, then you won't be disappointed if your cake doesn't look like a zebra baked into a cake. And anyway a zebra shouldn't ever be baked into a cake. It's not right.
This cake really really works best with just a touch of xanthan gum. I made it every which way before I had a version that worked well enough and was easy enough to share with you.
If you make this with a pre-blended gluten free flour that already has xanthan gum in it, there won't be marbling. And if you're anything like me, there may be some mild to moderate frustration and muttered expletives.
But that touch of xanthan gum really helps here. You can omit it from the recipe entirely, and you'll have a beautiful cake, but it will be a bit delicate and won't last more than a day, on the outside, at room temperature without becoming a bit stale. That's just the way it is.
Either way, it's a really lovely, simple and moist marbled loaf cake. Plus, it's totally impressive, particularly when you don't include all that talk of zebras.