Nutella Memories

Nutella….awesome chocolaty hazelnut goodness.  Oh, how I love thee.  Nutella holds  many memories for me.  I can remember eating it as a child, my mother would let us have it on toast as a treat.  Though I would always prefer to sneak it and eat it on a spoon…..savouring every lick.  But my fondest Nutella memory has to be when I was pregnant with my boys.  It started with Jakob, at about month 4 into my pregnancy I started having weird cravings.  I began my pregnancy with three months of the dreaded morning sickness, and couldn’t stand more than a sausage mcgriddle and coke slurpee….weird, I know, but it made me feel better.  Didn’t question it…just went with it.  After I started to get these cravings I rediscovered my adoration for Nutella…..on wobbly white toast…nothing whole grain, no whole wheat….but wobbly Wonder Bread - lightly toasted.  And I would eat a LOT…several slices in one sitting, with a tall glass of the much needed milk (have to get in those nutrients!)  I didn’t have the same morning sickness issues with Aiden, but the Nutella toast craving came back with a vengeance! 

These days my boys are enjoying discovering Nutella.  Jakob and Aiden often ask for “chocolate toast” for breakfast or snack.  They don’t get it every day….but I don’t have any qualms about giving it to them, it’s part of their history! LOL

Now I enjoy my Nutella on toast once in a while, but prefer to make desserts with it, like this cake:

It is a very dark chocolate cake, covered in Nutella and then decorated with a Nutella buttercream.  I made it in a Pampered Chef Torte Pan….and since it is so rich, you only need one layer…it is divine.  Seriously.

Dark Chocolate Cake

Recipe adapted from Recipe Girl

Ingredients:

1 oz Chopped Semi Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup Hot Coffee

1 cup Sugar

3/4 cup plus 3 tbsp All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa (it’s this cocoa that gives it the dark colour)

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/3 tsp Salt

1 large Egg (at room temp)

1/4 cup Canola Oil

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300 deg F, grease torte pan.  Spray pan with nonstick spray.  I lined the center part of the torte pan with parchment paper and then sprayed again. (I am always so nervous about it sticking)
• In a bowl, pour in the hot coffee….add chocolate and let sit for a few minutes to let the chocolate start to melt.  Stir until mixture is smooth and all chocolate is melted.
• In a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg until a little thickened – about 3 minutes.  Slowly add the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and chocolate/coffee mixture to the egg.  Mix until well combined.  Add the dry mixture and beat together until just combined.
• Pour batter into torte pan and bake for about 45 – 60 minutes….or until tester comes out clean.
• Cool cake in pan until completely cooled.  I ran a knife gently around the edge of the cake before inverting onto a cooling rack – then I flipped it over again onto serving plate.

To Decorate Cake:

Warm jar of NUTELLA in the microwave until it is pourable consistency….start at about 15 sec and go from there.   Pour the nutella into the well of the torte cake and spread until it looks pretty.  Like this:

Nutella Buttercream

Cream together 1 stick unsalted Butter, 1/2 cup Nutella, and 1 tsp vanilla extract with enough powdered sugar until piping consistency is achieved.  Fill piping bag (with decorative tip attached) with the Nutella Buttercream and decorate cake.

Pretty, eh?

There is a new Nutella food blog that you MUST check out….BellaNutella.  It is dedicated to recipes using Nutella!  I can’t wait to bake pretty much everything on this site!  If you have a Nutella recipe that is a MUST make…you can submit it to this sight as well.  Cool, right?

What is your favourite way to enjoy Nutella??  Share links to your recipes….please!