Nutella Cake

We're back!
It was a wonderful holiday, but it's great to be back home... and baking!

I'd like to be able to tell you all about the Parisian pastries and marvelous macarons I learnt to make on the trip - but it wasn't that kind of holiday.... Instead of cafe's and museums we spent our time in EuroDisney and Alpine playgrounds!

(I could show you all the pictures, but I'm sure you're just here for the cake?!)

It's really interesting eating in a foreign country - and most of the French words I learnt in the past two weeks were food-related - out of necessity! I'm all for eating what the locals eat, but still - there are some things you want to avoid. Like ordering snails on your pizza ; )

In France they don't balk at having chocolate for breakfast - chocolate croissants, hot chocolate, and of course - Nutella. It was ever present at the hotel breakfast buffet - in tall stacks of single-serve packs. (Quite irresistible!)

For this cake, though, you'll need a whole jar!

Nutella Cake
recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

This is a deliciously moist vanilla cake that has rich seams of Nutella oozing through it.

Preheat the oven to 180'C
Grease and line a suitable cake tin: I use a rose-shaped silicone baking mould for this cake - it works beautifully, and complements the appearance of the cake. (When using a silicone baking mould, I simply spray it with baking spray, but I'll always place it in a conventional baking tin for support in the oven.) If you don't have something like that, no problem - any medium sized pan will do.

Ingredients
250g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
180g butter at room temp.
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla (Vanilla Girl - 8-10 drops)
* I also added a few drops of Vanilla Girl Hazelnut extract - for that extra yum-factor.
350g Nutella

Method
Sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
Add the eggs, one at a time, with the mixer on low speed. Scrape down the bowl between additions.
Beat in the vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately beat in the sifted dry ingredients and the buttermilk - begin and end with the dry ingredients.
Beat until just combined.

Pour a third of the batter into the prepared tin. Spread half the Nutella over the batter.
Repeat with another third of batter, and then the rest of the Nutella. Top with the remaining third of batter. (Try to resist licking the Nutella off the spoon until you have completed all the layers!)
 Use a bread knife to gently marble the Nutella through the layers. Don't over mix!

Bake at 180'C for an hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (Well, free of batter at least - it will have yummy Nutella sticking to it!)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before turning out of the pan/ mould.
Dust with icing sugar and serve.

And if you choose to have a slice or two for breakfast - well, bon appetit!

xxM