Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

September brings thoughts of changing leaves and crisp, cool fall nights. Here in my little corner of western North Carolina, the first cool snap of the year blew in overnight, yielding a perfect day to curl up with a book, a good cuppa and a piece of delicious Nutella Swirl Pound cake. Problem is, there's no cake left!

Wednesday night, I decided to get on the stick and bake said cake, which I've wanted to do since joining this baking club. The house filled with the delicious aroma of baking Nutella (who knew it could smell THAT good). The cake had barely cooled when my husband cut the first slice. He ate two. I ate one (still warm no less). My teenage son ate one. Cake half gone at bedtime.

So the next morning..... husband at a piece for breakfast, as did son. I abstained but took a piece for lunch. Last night, after supper, we all had another piece and that was all she wrote. That was one delectable cake! Here's the recipe from "Cake Keeper Cakes" by Lauren Chattman. I'll be making this one again.

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

4 large eggs at room temp.
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 jar (13 ounces, about 1 cup) Nutella

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.

Combine eggs and vanilla in glass cup and beat lightly. Combine flour, soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 min). Turn mixer to low. Add egg mixture in a slow streat, scraping down sides as necessary.

Add flour mix 1/2 cup at a time until incorparated. Beat 30 seconds after last addition.

Scrape 1/3 of batter into pan and smooth with a spatula. Spread half of the Nutella over batter and smooth with clean spatula (I nuked the Nutella for a few seconds for easier spreading). Add another layer of batter and Nutella, topping with final layer of batter. Swirl by running a butter knife through the mixture. (Mine did't swirl very well and I ended up with a thick layer of Nutella on the bottom but, hey, it was good anyway).

Bake about an hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, invert onto wire rack and cool completely (good luck with that). Slice and serve.