Nutella, a very popular condiment, is becoming more and more popular in the U. S. In fact, a similar product has emerged from Jif, the peanut-butter company. You can choose from chocolate or chocolate-cappuccino in the case of the Jif product.
But why would you use Nutella or Jif in a pound cake? Well, it is just a form of chocolate spread, with a healthy addition of nuts, which are good for you. There are hundreds of recipes for marbled pound cake, and if you want to make one, you can use a handy stand-in for melting chocolate and making a chocolate batter to swirl into the plain batter.
Nutella is no longer hard to find in Tucson, but I have seen both it and the Jif products at Walmart in my neighborhood, so you can go and do some comparison shopping. If you stop by Super Target on Oracle Road you can check out an extensive nut-butter section that they have and see if anything else there interests you.
Meanwhile, remember one thing: Nutella is not cake batter, as I said above, so when you make this cake you need to allow it to cool completely IN THE PAN so that the Nutella will set, and not run as it will if you put a hot cake on a wire rack to cool.
My chocolate-loving priest over at the Episcopal Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Tucson will get a load of this pound cake soon. It ought to send any chocolate lover straight out of this world.
NUTELLA SWIRL POUND CAKE
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 large organic eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure organic vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 sticks unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 13-ounce jar Nutella or Jif hazelnut spread
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour.
In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at its lowest speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at the lowest speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.
Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.
Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until it tests done and the top is firm. Let the cake cool in the pan until it has reached room temperature.
This cake could be baked in a tube pan as well as a loaf pan, of course, and it would be spectacular in tube form on a serving dish, that's for sure.
Comments