Childhood Treat: Nutella Cake

"I would just watch my mom make the cake mix and I would eat the mix."

I started baking this cake with my mom when I was about ten years old. I was still too young to know what any of those ingredients were and how they had to be used. I would just watch my mom make the cake mix and I would eat the mix. I know, it’s not good to eat raw cake mix, but it’s like saying no to cookie batter, how could I resist! I can still taste the raw cake mix in my mouth, it felt like droplets of heaven. Sometimes I opt out from eating the mix because I binge on the Nutella, I know, still not good, but hey we all have our guilty pleasure.

Step 2: Mixing
Grab the mixer and the big bowl and get to mixing! You will first need to add one cup of sugar and one cup of oil into the bowl then mix it really well with the mixer. Pour one cup of the olive oil into the bowl, and again mix it really well. Add two eggs, mix, add one pack of baking powder, mix it really well. When it comes to adding the vanilla sugar powder, be very precise, as it will get super sweet if you add more then ½ a tea spoon of it into the bowl. Add one cup of milk and mix it really well. Once all of these ingredients are mixed, add three cups of flour. It is crucial you mix the flour really well and make sure it is not lumpy, or else the cake will not come out the way it should.

Step 3: Preparing the Pyrex
Get a big Pyrex glass, I usually use rectangle because I love the way it comes out, but you can also use square or round. Prepare the glass Pyrex with foil and add olive oil at the bottom of the glass. You can just eye how much oil you will need. The oil is to prevent the cake from sticking to the foil or the bottom of the glass. Pour the cake mix into the glass Pyrex, only about ½ of the glass should be filled up. Add the Nutella as one thin layer everywhere and do not touch or mix. Let it sit there for about one minute until you pour the remaining cake mix. Now pour all of the cake mix on top of the Nutella layer. Add another layer of Nutella on top of the poured cake mix. You can create a design or just make it one solid layer. I usually like to make swirls, the cake then comes out with cute swirls on the inside.

Step 1: Get the ingredients ready
Before you start baking the cake, you need a few important ingredients. You can opt out and use your choice of ingredients for baking this cake, but I learned to bake this Nutella cake this way with these specific simple ingredients. You will need milk, sometimes I use vanilla almond milk or coconut milk to make the cake sweeter. You will need olive oil, eggs, baking powder, sugar, vanilla sugar, flour, and the most important ingredient of them all, NUTELLA! I have a major sweet tooth, by the time I finish baking this cake, I have already eaten two big spoons of Nutella. The tools that you will need are, a big bowl, I prefer plastic, and a mixer.

"I usually like to make swirls, the cake then comes out with
cute swirls on the inside."

Step 4: Oven and the cake
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees before you put the cake mix inside. Once the oven is preheated, carefully put the cake inside. Let it bake for 45 minutes, and do not open the oven. Opening the oven lets all the heat out, ruining the cooking process. Once I opened the oven door and my cake came out flat, as if someone stepped on it. I am not sure why this would happen, but all that hard work you put into baking this cake, make sure to not open the oven door while it is baking. Once the 45 minutes has passed, let the cake sit inside the oven for one hour before you take it out.

Step 5: Bring out the cake
After the cake has cooled down in the oven, take it out and let it sit outside for about 20 minutes or so. Cut the cake in square shapes and pack it up in a Ziploc bag. You might need about two or three Ziploc bags in order to fit all of the cake. Put the cake inside the fridge for the entire night. You don’t have to place the cake inside the fridge, but it tastes so much better once you take the cake out to eat it the next day. I usually put some butter and jam on it and eat it with Persian Ahmed Earl Grey tea. You can also warm up the cake, but the rich chocolate and vanilla taste will not taste the same.

I wanted to teach you how to make a simple and yummy treat. It really does not cost much to make and it’s so simple, I learned it the first time as I watched my mom make it. There are different ways you can make this cake by using different ingredients, like I mentioned in step 1. I usually like to stick to whole milk, because the added ingredients make the cake sweet, if I add vanilla almond milk or coconut milk, then it will taste way too sweet.

I love baking this cake when I am bored or out of desert ideas. I eat this cake cold with my butter, jam, and Persian tea in the mornings as breakfast, it actually fills me up for hours!