Nutella Cake

When I saw  this recipe I knew immediately that if I presented it it The Teenager,  I would be the best mother in the world world....for a few minutes. Nutella is - to the English boy , what peanut butter is to his American counterpart.....essential to life itself. Teenager eats it on toast,pancakes,waffles,crumpets , pancakes , bagels....and from the jar with a spoon when I'm not looking with out a doubt. So clearly this cake had to made and tested...here goes......


1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 teasp pure vanilla extract
3/4 teasp baking powder
1/4 teasp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter - softened
11/4 cups sugar
 one 13 oz jar Nutella

Preheat the oven to 325 F. I like using the prepared baking inserts made to fit different sizes of baking tins so make things easier,but if you don't have those,grease a 9 inch loaf tin.  Using a hand held mixer,or food processor, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy,about 3 mins. Lightly beat the eggs and vanilla together, and add these to the butter mixture, beating until fully incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the mix and beat again until thoroughly mixed in.

Spread 1/3 of the cake  batter in your prepared tin, and spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another 1'3 of the batter,and the remaining  Nutella . Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the batter with a knife to make the cake have a good swirl of  Nutella when you cut into it.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes,until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean... mine took about an hour to cook... Its important to cool the cake on a wire rack until completely cold -difficult to wait I know- as its quite a squidgy loaf and doesn't cut well when its warm.

And the verdict?? Well I clearly didn't swirl the Nutella around enough as there was alot  towards the base of the cake...didn't seem to matter though...The Teenager had glassy eyes for the rest of the evening,and Travelling Man ,in between mouthfuls and just after he had asked for a second slice,  tried to tell me about zero gravity and how that would have helped with  the swirling....keep to the day job Travelling Man...!!
    So here's me trying to convert the Americans in my life to Nutella .  Will it work????