Hi everyone!
Today I’m going to demonstrate how to make a cake with zebra stripes on the inside! This is such a fantastic surprise-inside cake and a fun alternative to a traditional chocolate and vanilla marbled cake.
By the way, I did not invent the zebra cake. I’m not sure who did–but if you google zebra cakes, you’ll see all kinds of recipes that point to basically the same outcome–very cool looking zebra slices! You’ll see that part in just a second.
First, let’s talk batter– You’ll most often see chocolate and white zebra cakes, but for a fun twist, you can tint your batter with coloring gels to create all sorts of unique combinations of colorful stripes!
We went the boxed cake route and bought a box of Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Cake, and a box of Duncan Hines French Vanilla. We chose these because they don’t have pudding in the mix (like Pillsbury & Betty Crocker, which can be a little thick for this project–although I love them for anything else).
We prepared the batter for each cake mix separately and found the batter to be just the right consistency. If the batter is too thick, the effect will be more difficult to achieve. If they batter is very thin, it may spread too quickly.
(*** If you would like to try this cake with a scratch recipe, you can choose your favorite white or yellow cake recipe and then divide it approx. in half– you can stir approximately 3 tablespoons or so of dutch processed cocoa powder into one of your bowls of batter to create chocolate batter.
Now, let’s make a zebra cake!
We started with our two bowls of cake batter….
Then, we poured ¼ cup of vanilla batter into the middle of our 8″ pan. It will spread a little bit. Then…
Measure out a ¼ cup of chocolate batter and pour it in the center of your vanilla batter.
Repeat this process, continuing with ¼ cup scoops of alternating flavors, each flavor of batter dropped into the center of the previous circle of batter. The batter is thin enough that it does not take long at all for the batter to spread and push out a little bit.
Continue the process until your pans are approximately ⅔ full. (We had a couple of cups leftover, which we used to make extra cake layers for another time.)
Look how pretty!…
This beautiful striped batter is ready for the oven!
Well…here’s where it would have been nice of me to take a picture of the baked layers. They look exactly like the above picture, only…baked. :0)
I assembled my fat two layer cake as I always do…the bottom layer right side up, and the top layer top side down (with buttercream in between). I’m sure that the zebra effect would look pretty no matter how you stack your layers.
After crumb coating my cake with vanilla buttercream, I used a Wilton star tip 21 (one of my faves) to do a reverse shell pattern with my medium consistency buttercream.
I always love a nice reverse shell border, but I now like them even better when piped vertically! You can see that I staggered mine a bit so that neighboring lines fit nicely together. Is it just me or does my cake look like it’s wearing a snuggly buttercream sweater?!
Okay, back on topic again….. it’s time for the big reveal! (I said a little prayer after all of that piping that the zebra stripes actually would be there when we cut into the cake!)
Whew! It worked! I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I LOVE these zebra print cake layers!
It’s always nice to have a hidden surprise within the cake— if you haven’t tried this method already, make sure to put it on your cake “bucket list”. It’s so much fun, trendy, and looks much more complicated than it actually is, which I love!
*An update~ When this tutorial was first created, the sizes of standard box mixes were larger (around 18.5 oz). Now, they are 16.5 oz. We tested the zebra cake again with the new smaller size and still had great results.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you enjoyed the tutorial!
Did you know that we also have a leopard print (on the inside) cake tutorial in our Member Section? It’s one of our favorites! Leopard Print Cake Tutorial
Or if you are just looking for a good old fashioned Marble Cake recipe, we have just the one! It’s good to have options!
*For our full collection of cake recipes, frosting recipes, and filling recipes, make sure to stop by our Recipes Section! These recipes are tried and true! Then, pop by our Free Tutorials section for even more fun step by step cake decorating tutorials!
Finally, if you are interested in learning even more about cake decorating, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School! As a member, you will have online access to hundreds of our cake decorating video tutorials!
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thanks for making this so easy to do…love it !
my Daughter will b 22 and i STILL make her cakes. She loves Zebra things Im soooo… excited about this one.
I think she will love it too, thanks for your post!
I will do this for a birthday celebration at school! Thankyou so MUCH!!!!
Love it…want to try it with my daughter who has just started baking.
I made this with a cat shaped tin to make a striped tabby cat! worked a treat
Hi Kate, what a cute idea. Thanks for posting.
My chocolate batter was much thicker, didn’t spread much. I’d thin out the chocolate batter more if I make again. Mine didn’t look like this.
In the oven now, so we’ll see how they look.
It worked! Had nice zebra stripes which was quite a surprise to everyone as I didn’t tell them what kind of cake I had made.
How fun!
Wonderful, I’m happy it was a success!! Thank you for letting us know!
Doing this today! We made the white cake mix pink to match my daughters pink zebra halter for her horse. She thinks she is the coolest kid in town!
That will be so cute!!
If you dye the white batter orange, and then add a little black food coloring to the chocolate–you make a TIGER cake (for my little boy!). :) Thanks!
If you are making a larger cake (16″) round do you still use 1/4 scoops or should they be larger
Hi Beth, we used 8″ round pans, so I think you would be fine to increase to 1/2 cup scoops if you are making a 16″ cake round. It would take a long time to fill the pan if using the 1/4 cup scoops.
Thank you for the wonderful idea!
I tried this for my sister’s birthday cake, she loves zebra and purple so i dyed the white cake purple and i also had to add a little more water to the chocolate as it was very thick, it turned out well and i also used the leftover batter to make matching zebra print cupcakes to go with the cake. My sister loved it so thank you.
This is like what was called a marbled cake when I was young. It was my favourite cake. I wanted all the time for my birthday. Now I am into carrot cake. :)
cool! will try this later
Ha just made the cake (vanilla and hazulnut) and it worked! I’m so proud thank you for showing us :-)
That’s great!! Thank you for your post!
Hi Elizabeth, We used 2 boxes of cake mix, one white and one chocolate, to make the two layer zebra cake. We did have some cake batter remaining that we used to make cake layers for another use.
I’ve been saving this tutorial for a while now, and finally I have a reason to use the zebra stripe cake batter…my 6 year old granddaughter wants a Rock Star Hello Kitty cake. So I colored the batters hot pink and black and following your directions I made it and it’s in the oven now. Thank you for the wonderful tutorial I have all the confidence in the world that it will be wonderful.
Thanks Nancy! I’m so happy that you made it, pink & black sounds fabulous!
I really want to give this a try. In your opinion, would melted chocolate in the batter taste better than cocoa, and how much chocolate would you add in place of cocoa if I wanted to go this route…a few ounces? Thank you.
Is there some reason you have to use the chocolate? Could I do 2 boxes of the french vanilla and dye one a color? I was hoping to do a gender reveal cake out of this and have it be either white and pink or white and blue. But I wasn’t sure if maybe the batter would blend together too much since it’s the same type?? what do you think?
Hi Krista– No, it doesn’t have to be chocolate and white– colorful zebra stripes will work too!
So u just keep dropping the cake batter into the center ? (I confuse easily whinh is normal lol )
Hi Diane, Yes, keep dropping the batter into the center. It is a bit time consuming as you wait for each color to spread out, but worth it for the end result.
Hi Kristen, That will be so very cute!
will this cake be ok to cover with fondant?
I am planning on making this cake in school colors for a football stadium cake and in a rectangle sheet pan. I will have 3 layers. Do I still put the batter in the center of the pan or should I do put it in 2 or 3 areas of the pan? thanks for a great site. Love it.
Hi Connie, I’m sorry we missed your question. We have never tried doing the zebra cake in a rectangle shaped pan. I think I would try putting the 2 colors of batter in the center of the pan and after that has spread I would fill in the end sections in the same way. You would not have the same uniformity as a circular pan. This is just my best guess…..wish I could have been more helpful. If you give it a try, we would love to hear from you.
What is vanilla batter? Are you talking pudding, cake mix, or something else? Thanks and will try when I get the answer.
Hi NKR, vanilla batter refers to the cake mix batter, it is vanilla flavor.
Thank you. This cake looks perfect when a ‘different’ cake is needed.
Wouldn’t any leftover batter make adorable cupcakes?.
Yes, very cute !
I will definitely be trying this out soon!! I’ve been asked to make a cake for a small class reunion. The school mascot is a tiger, so I can’t wait for them to cut into the cake and reveal this surprise! So grateful for this blog entry!
They will love it!!
This is the perfect cake I need for a baby shower. The mother has chosen baby pink and dark brown zebra print for the theme. Hard to find decorations but anyway, plan on making the shower cake and what a surprise she will have when she cuts into the cake!!! Thank you, I’m gonna be loved forever for this trick!!! Can’t wait!
It will be perfect for the baby shower!
Hi! Do you think this will work ok for cupcakes?! :)
I think it would work, but it will take a very long time to fill the cupcake liners.
my daughters softball team had zebra stripes along the side, so I just made this cake for their end-of-season party…a big hit!
This cake looks amazing. I love zebra and I hope mine comes out as good as yours did.thank you for sharing
Hi there!!…also going to try this for a wedding cake.
Have never done this before, so can’t wait to see how this is going to turn out.
My husbands birthday is Saturday and I’m not an avid baker. Going to try this out. Fingers crossed!!!
Hi Julie, I think he will love it. Let us know.
Today I’m doing a chocolate and raspberry zebra cake for my birthday party on Saturday. Will the cake keep for two days?
Hi Sara- If you are using a raspberry filling/anything perishable, you’ll want to refrigerate. I refrigerate anything with fruit fillings. No problem to refrigerate for a couple of days, it will be fine!
omg i love it i’m going to make t as soon as possible because i love baking and this would be amazingly fun:)
Hi Melissa, I would like to do this cake from scratch and my FAVORITE chocolate cake recipe is your Classic Chocolate Scratch recipe. I don’t have a favorite vanilla but was thinking of trying the Classic White Cake in your recipes section too. Would these recipes work or would they be too thick?
Another question – I would love to do this print inside the purse cake and make a brown and white zebra stripe flap on the outside of the purse.
Would these hold up to that too? Ill either cover in white chocolate ganache or fondant. Thank you.
Hi paintmycake, we have not tried using those recipes for the zebra stripe cake so I can’t say for sure, but I think they will work. We have had many people try this with scratch recipes and have success, I just don’t know what recipe they used. The two recipes will hold up to fondant….and the zebra stripe flap on the outside of the purse would not add too much weight. I am assuming that you are using the “purse cake” on the site. It only has a small amount of carving so I think the recipes will be fine, and you will be chilling the cake before you carve.
Can’t wait until june 28 for my cake
Wonderful, I’ve just been asked for an Africa cake from my nephew for his birthday, since we are going to South Africa a few days after. I have more or less got the outside decoration sorted, but this will just blow their minds when they cut it! Great tutorial and thanks!
Yes, this is perfect for his birthday!! Thank you for the nice comments!
… I tried it .. :) ..
all I can say is PERFECT… Turned out just th way i wanted it to :D
I’m so glad, ChiChi! ;0)
Hello, Thank you for the info. I want to make this cake but it will be the bottom of a two tier cake. I wanted to know if just box cake mix without adding the pudding would hold the top tier? Thank you
Hi Yashira, We usually prefer to use a doctored cake mix or a scratch recipe that is not so soft when making a tiered cake. I think you will be fine to use a regular cake mix without pudding added if your dowels are stable and the weight of the top tier is fully supported on the dowels and not the cake below. Here is a link to Melissa’s tie stacking video in case you would like to watch it, https://www.mycakeschool.com/video-tutorials/simple-stacked-tiers/
Thank you so much Bebe for your quick response. I was going to use a doctored cake mix and it has pudding and sour cream. My next question is just take out the pudding and keep the sour cream? Thanks.
Hi Yashira, We have only made the zebra stripe cake using a cake mix without pudding in the mix, such as Duncan Hines. As in the instructions, the cake batter should be somewhat thin so it will spread out more easily. Unfortunately, I can’t say if adding sour cream would make it too thick.
wah!!! I like this cake, I will make this cake on my son’s birthday, which is helding in next week.
Can this be made with your marble scratch cake recipe just not swirling it?
Hi Holly, It should work fine, just divide the batter as evenly as possible. Stir approximately 3 Tablespoons or so of Dutch Processed Cocoa into one of the bowls for the chocolate. What I cannot remember is how thick the batter of the Marble Cake is, hopefully it is not too thick so the batter will spread out more quickly………you can jiggle the pan a bit to coax the batter into spreading.
It will be perfect for the baby shower! I really adopt your recipie for our customers.
Is the cake baked on the middle oven rack?
This recipe is great! So impressive!
Will this work when making a baked Alaska? I think it would look really great with chocolate and lemon sorbet layers on top of the zebra layer,, mounds of meringue topping browned/torched and obviously taste delicious too!
What do you use to make the frosting design?
I used 1 box cake mix and tinted half of it. Each half baked to a height of 1 inch! What did I do wrong?
Hi Lori, I am sorry you had a problem. You say you used 1 box of cake mix and divided it. We used 2 boxes of mix, 1 chocolate and 1 white. Since you only used 1 box you did not have enough batter in the pan for it to rise to the correct height. I hope you will try the recipe again another time.