A CAKE TO DIG INTO!

For the final bake from Lauren Chattman's "Cake keeper Cakes"  The Cake Slice Bakers have decided to each bake a cake that we have been drooling over during the past year of baking from the book.  I have to admit that I'm not too sorry to be moving onto another book - although there were some gems in there (particularly the Cranberry Cake) but I actually think that every cake in a recipe book should be delicious, and more importantly (because we all have different tastes) well tested - in different types of ovens by different people - I think that that's what you are paying for when you buy a book, testing, testing and then some more testing.

O.K. I'll get off my high horse now and tell you which cake I decided to go with, there were a number in contention - Espresso-Hazelnut Bundt Cake, Mississippi Mud Cake with Espresso-Bourbon Glaze and Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake to name a few - but I went with Nutella Swirl Pound Cake (with a bit of encouragement from my Nutella mad son!!!).

This cake has good and bad points - the bad point became very obvious when I took out a knife to cut it - the knife went so far and no further - I had to take out the big guns (!) to make it the whole way thought.  The Nutella had sunk towards the bottom (as it does in the photo in the book) and hardened - really hardened!  I know that I'm still on a learning curve with my new oven but I don't know what I could have done to prevent this happening - I wonder if I used about half the quantity of Nutella and put tiny amounts through the batter?

As for the good points - this cake is delicious, worth the risk to your dentistry!!! The texture of the cake part is perfect and it tastes buttery and scrumptious - well worth playing around with.

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

4                  large eggs
2 tsp            vanilla extract
1.5 cups       plain flour
3/4 tsp         baking powder
1/4 tsp         salt
1 cup (8oz)  softened butter
1 400g jar     Nutella

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 9"x5" loaf tin with parchment paper

Combine the eggs and vanilla and beat lightly.
In a separate bowl sift in the flour baking powder and salt.
In another bowl beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, remembering to scrape down the sides regularly.
Add the egg slowly whilst the beater is running at medium-slow speed.
Turn the beater down to slow and add the flour slowly a 1/2 cup at a time.
Scrape 1/3 of the mixture into your prepared tin, then 1/2 the Nutella, followed by another 1/3 of the cake mixture then the other 1/2 of the Nutella and finally the remaining 1/3 of the mixture. Run a knife blade through the batter to create marbling.
Bake the cake until golden and a skewer comes out clean - about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.
After this time all it to cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice (with a good knife!!) and serve.

Enjoy.

If you are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers have a look at Katie at Apple and Spice for all the details.

I would like to thank you all for your beautiful and kind comments on my last post - I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them.