I thought the time had come for me to introduce the joys of neapolitan to our 6-year-old. Marble cakes are fun and a relatively easy way to make an impressive bake. I think I might try neapolitan ice cream next - yum!

250g butter, softened
2/3 c caster sugar
1/2 c rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
3 eggs
1/2 c milk of choice (or yoghurt or sour cream)
2 c flour (I used white spelt and wholemeal spelt)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp milk of choice
2 tbsp strawberry jam, sieved if you want seeds taken out
or 1 tbsp strawberry/raspberry powder
few drops red food colouring

Buttercream:
100g butter, softened
1 1/2 c icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 22cm round tin or 30 x 20cm brownie tin with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Mix in rice syrup, vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Fold in flour slowly with a large metal spoon alternatively with the milk until fully combined.

Divide batter into 3 equal portions by putting about 1 1/4 c mixture into 2 smaller bowls, leaving the last 1/3 in the original bowl. Mix the cocoa powder and milk into one bowl and strawberry flavouring and food colouring into the other.

Drop spoonfuls of each mixture into your tin, alternating the colours. When all the batter is used swirl a skewer or knife into the tin to make a marble pattern.

Bake for 40-50 min depending on the depth of your tin. Poke a skewer into the tin to test if the cake is cooked through. Let cool in the tin for 10 min then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the buttercream, cream the butter in a bowl until pale. Slowly beat in the icing sugar in batches, then mix in cocoa and milk to form the icing consistency you want.

Spread buttercream over the cake once completely cooled. I chose chocolate flavour but you can do vanilla or strawberry.