nutella marble cake

This is a twist of the standard marble cake.

Instead of chocolate / cocoa powder, I used Nutella (which is a hazelnut spread). Also, I baked the cake as a tea cake instead of a butter cake so that it is lighter in texture.

I like the taste of the final product. I do have one grouse, though... it is the marbling effect in the cake. I have still not perfected this. I have tried swirling the batter using a skewer, I have tried using a butter knife and so forth but I have still not managed to achieve the beautiful marbling effect that I see in commercially sold marble cakes. Oh well... practice makes perfect!

When I posted a photograph of a slice of this cake in my facebook, one of my friends sent me an electronic mail and commented that I have been baking a lot of cakes lately. I replied to say that I uploaded the photograph to facebook to tease my facebook friends. *grin*

INGREDIENTS

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup castor sugar

60g butter (softened)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/3 cup low fat milk

1 tbsp Nutella spread

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Grease and line the base of an 8" round cake pan. Grease and flour the sides of the cake pan. Set aside.

3. Sift the self-raising flour and ground cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.

4. Beat the castor sugar and butter in a bowl using a hand whisk or an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

5. Add the egg and beat well.

6. Add the vanilla essence and milk and mix well.

7. Fold in the flour using a wooden spatula and mix until the flour disappears into the batter.

8. Scoop out 3/4 cup of the batter in a separate bowl and mix with the Nutella spread.

9. Spoon the white batter onto the cake pan, leaving pockets of empty spaces in between for you to add the Nutella batter.

10. Add the Nutella batter.

11. Using a skewer, swirl the two batters to create a marbling effect.

12. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

13. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring the cake onto a rack to cool thoroughly.