Yuzu and Soy Caramel Marble Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

This Yuzu and Soy Caramel Marble Cake is incredibly flavourful with a moist and tender crumb, all soaked in a rich brown butter glaze.

It’s citrus season! My favourite citrus is HANDS DOWN!! Yuzu. If you’re lucky enough to find fresh Yuzu where you live, don’t sleep on it! It’s a wonderful fruit to both cook and bake with.

What is Yuzu?

Yuzu is a small yellow or green citrus fruit commonly used in Japanese cuisine for sweet and savory dishes. It has a complex fragrance and flavour with sweet, sour and floral notes.

Just like a lemon, you can utilize both the juice and the rind. It’s particularly difficult to find here in Canada, but you can find yuzu juice at some specialty asian grocery stores.

What is Soy Sauce Caramel?

Soy sauce caramel is like salted caramel with an additional savory and umami flavour. In Japan, you can find soy sauce caramel at specialty desserts like ice cream, crepes and cakes!

Ingredients for this yuzu soy caramel cake

There are three components to this cake: the soy caramel, cake batter and a glaze. Here’s what you’ll need for this sweet citrus loaf cake:

For the soy sauce caramel:

• caster sugar
• water
• soy sauce

For the cake batter:

• soy milk
• yuzu (juice & zest): or use bottled yuzu juice and zest of a lemon
• vanilla extract
• silken tofu
• butter: you can substitute for all coconut oil
• refined coconut oil: use refined coconut oil so the cake does not give off any coconut-y notes
• all purpose flour
• corn starch
• caster sugar
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt

For the brown butter yuzu glaze

• butter (I use Miyoko’s dairy free butter)
• sugar
• yuzu juice
• dark rum
• vanilla extract

While developing this recipe, I ran out of butter so on a whim made a condensed milk yuzu glaze which also just as delicious and alcohol-free! All you need for this version is condensed milk and yuzu juice.

How to make yuzu cake

There are 4 major steps to making this yuzu cake:

First, we start with the soy caramel. The process of making this soy sauce caramel is much quicker than making caramel with milk, butter and cream. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat as soon as it turns amber in colour to prevent burning.

Next, we move on to the cake batter. Whisk all the dry ingredients into a bowl and blend all the wet ingredients until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together with a spatula. Use a scrape and fold/cut motion to prevent over-mixing. Then transfer 1/3 of the batter to the caramel sauce with more flour and mix until combined.

How to make the marble effect

Now that are two cake batters are ready, it’s time to combined them together to make the marble cake

I tried a few different methods to create a marble effect and this process was by far my favourite with a beautiful swirl. Add a little less than half the yuzu batter to the loaf pan to coat the bottom. Then scoop 4-5 dollops of batter, alternating from left to right. Fill the empty spaces with the caramel batter. Repeat this process but layering the yuzu cake batter on top of the soy caramel batter and vice versa. Once all the batter is used up, use a chopstick and poke it through all the way down to the bottom of the pan, starting from the top left corner. Swirl the batter using a figure eight motion three full times. Lift to remove the chopstick and then start from the top right corner and repeat the process. Tap the loaf pan on the counter three times to remove any air bubbles.

Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. You can check doneness by inserting a skewer in the middle of the loaf. It should come out clean or with a few crumbs stuck to the skewer.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack and then place the cake back into the loaf pan. Drizzle the glaze over and let the cake soak it up for at least 30 minutes.

Baking Tips & FAQ:

1. Let the cake sit overnight: this cake tastes better the next day because it has a chance to fully soak up the glaze and let the flavours mend. Pour 2/3 of the glaze on top and save 1/3 of the glaze and pour on top before serving.
2. Can I make this without a stand mix? Yes! I recommend using only oil if not using a stand mix. Substitute the butter and oil for 82 ml refined melted coconut oil and add an additional 1 tsp of milk. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then use a spatula to mix using a sweep, fold and cut motion to prevent over-mixing.
3. Can I replace yuzu with lemon? While lemon and yuzu are not interchangeable in terms of flavour, you can absolutely use lemon, or any other citrus fruit instead of yuzu for a different variation. I know yuzu can be difficult to find in North America and have made this with a combination of lemon and lime juice with great results!
4. How to store this marble cake: Wrap or cover and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze, wrap with cling wrap tightly for up to 1 month. Defrost in the refrigerator before serving.

SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓

If you recreate this Yuzu Soy Caramel Marble Cake recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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