Nutella Pound Cake or.....Nutella Pound Cake Trifle?

My mom asked if I would make her a dessert to take over to my Aunt's for dinner tonight and I of course said yes! I love any reason to get into the kitchen and bake up something sweet and delicious and try out some of the many recipes that I have bookmarked to try! And oh boy did I have just the perfect recipe to try out.....nutella pound cake which I found from Debbie from mocha me blog. She raved about this recipe and I love nutella, so I knew that I had to try it out! 

So, I bet you are wondering why my nutella pound cake turned into a trifle! Well, here we go, I preheated my oven to 325 degrees F., I greased and floured my loaf pan, and I made the pound cake batter, which turned out wonderfully, I baked it for 1 hour and 15 minutes (and let me tell you that the smell of the pound cake baking was absolutely heavenly), I let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes and thats when the disaster struck.....only a little more than half of my pound cake came out of the pan and the top was a tiny bit sunken in the middle (I guess I didn't do a very good job at greasing and flouring the pan and I probably should have let it cook a few minutes longer). I immediately got a little bit frustrated (I completely hate it when my baked goods don't turn out) and told my mom what happened....she didn't really know how to help except say that it is okay and that was going to take it anyways. But, I didn't want her to take a broken and sunken looking pound cake for everyone to eat. (Sorry, I should have taken a picture of my broken cake, but, I was in too much of a rush!) 

So, I went back downstairs a little upset and then the idea came to me to make a Nutella Pound Cake Trifle! We had strawberries in the fridge that my mom was going to serve with the cake and my wonderful dad made a quick stop down the street to get some cool whip (although he didn't get enough...so I had to make due with what he got). I thought a trifle would be a great idea and no one would have to know about my little baking disaster and they could still enjoy a yummy dessert because after all.....isn't dessert the best part of a dinner party?!

My mom told me that everyone really, really loved the dessert and my Aunt said it was delicious!

I tried a few pieces of the pound cake before I put together the trifle and it was really, really delicious! So make sure and give this recipe a try...either in cake form or in trifle form....they both tasted wonderful! 

For the Nutella Pound Cake:

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups flour

- 4 large eggs, at room temperature

-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

-3/4 teaspoon baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

-1 1/4 cups sugar

-1 jar (13 oz.) Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs with vanilla, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.

2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium high speed until 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 1/3 of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the nutella on top. Repeat with another 1/3 of the batter and the remaining nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the nutella into the batter with a butter knife.

4. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cook 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 cake into slices and serve or make my Nutella Pound Cake Trifle.

For the trifle:

-1 loaf of Nutella Pound Cake, cut into 1 inch cubes

-16 ounces cool whip

-4 cups of strawberries, sliced (I sliced the strawberries and sprinkled the with sugar and let them soak in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, but plain ones would work just as well)

Directions:

In the bottime of a trifle bowl, place half of the pound cake cubes, then top with half of the cool whip, and then top with half of the strawberries. Repeat layers once more.