triple layer marble nutella bundt cake

… there’s an old wives tale that says you shouldn’t bake bread when you’re unwell as you’ll pass the sickness into the loaf and it won’t rise.  I like cooking when i’m sick.  It comforts me and leaves me with a sense of achievement that lying in bed simply doesn’t do.  I’m not talking about anything strenuous here and un-like many I don’t really get stressed in the kitchen… I remember when I was sick as a young boy I used to take a day off school and whilst mum went off to work I would turn her kitchen upside down cooking and baking.  I wasn’t very good at hiding the evidence from mum and my concoctions were usually more experimental than edible but it was the process of being in the kitchen that I loved.  I think I may have even pulled the odd fake sickie just so I could spend the day in the kitchen.  This weekend I had The Viking nagging me to stay in bed whilst in fact I pottered around the kitchen making a mess.  I can’t help myself.  It’s in my blood… my weak, delirious, poisoned blood….

triple layer marble nutella bundt cake
there’s a reason you don’t see many triple layer bundt cakes and that’s because they’re a bastard to cut and even trickier to put together again but when Sarah from Maison Cupcake set the mammoth challenge of triple layer cakes as the theme for this months we should cocoa I knew I had to give it a go… the cake is actually a really simple marble cake and I love my marble cakes left quite plain so I didn’t want the filling to be too overwhelming.  The whipped cream and nutella works a treat and obviously makes a stunning mouthful of joy in every bite…

i’ve adapted a classic 4 egg sponge recipe to suit my purposes and my large bundt tin but the ‘weigh-the-eggs’ method works for a smaller or larger tin, plus I find it’s easy to split into two bowls once you’ve creamed the butter and sugar, this way you ensure the vanilla sponge is the only bit with vanilla and the chocolate sponge is pure chocolate… if that makes any sense…

for the cake
4 large free-range eggs (weighed in their shells at 220g)
220g butter
220g caster sugar
220g self raising flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
a little milk

for the filling
2 large tablespoons of Nutella spread
200ml whipping cream

pre-heat the oven to 180C and grease your bundt tin very well… I used butter this time and it turned out fine but if you’re unsure then try one of those non-stick sprays – Lurpak do a brilliant Cooking Mist as part of their Cooks Range

for reference my bundt tin is 26cm dia by 9cm deep and fills beautifully with a 4 egg sponge

you’ll need a very large bowl to cream the sugar and butter which I did with my electric hand whisk for at least 8 minutes until it was soft, light and fluffy

take out half of the creamed butter and sugar and place it in another bowl

into the first bowl add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating between each egg, then add half the flour along with the vanilla and a little dash of milk to help slacken

in the second bowl add the remaining 2 eggs, again, one at a time and then the remaining flour along with the cocoa powder and a little milk, beating as you go

spoon alternate tablespoons of the batters into your bundt tin continuing around until you’ve used it all up, then take a skewer or knife and run it through the batters in a swirling motion

bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until risen and cooked through… there should be no wobble left in the top of the cake and a skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean.

set aside in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely

once cooled, make the filling by beating the cream to a thick consistency and then beat in the nutella

carefully slice the bundt into three even layers and generously spread the cream and nutella mix between each layer before reassembling

serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar in thick slices

we should cocoa is founded by Choclette from the Chocolate Log Blog and hosted this month by Sarah from Mason Cupcake

eat and of course enjoy!