Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

I made this piece of chocolatey deliciousness the other day, thanks to a recipe from Food and Wine. It was rich and perfect with a tall glass of milk.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 tsp. baking powder

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

One 13-ounce jar Nutella

White Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. 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 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed utnil fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.

3. 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.

4. Sprinkle some white chocolate chips on the top of the batter.

5. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

6. Eat the yummy!

Cupcake Happy

This post marks the beginning of the many cupcake blogs I hope to have on this site. As a fan of cute things and delicious things, one of my favorite recent hobbies has to make cute delicious cupcakes. I sometimes use a book (Hello Cupcake is a good one!), and sometimes use my creativity to think of new ones.

The first cupcakes I made were these adorable owl cupcakes, with chocolate frosting, oreo cookies, and m&ms.

The second ones I made were turkey cupcakes for Thanksgiving. I would have liked to have used candy corn for the feathers, but it was not readily available, so I used orange candy that I cut into fan-like shapes. The turkey's head is a donut hole, and the chocolate sprinkles are the neck feathers.

The third installment was the most successful and delicious. I used sweetened coconut flakes, fruit rollups, and m&ms to make an army of snowmen for Christmas/New Years. I made ear muffs using m&ms and fruit rollups!

My last experiment was making sunflower cupcakes with green and yellow frosting, Oreos, and red m&ms for ladybugs. They turned out less like sunflowers and more like regular flowers, but they were cute anyway.