Nutella Butter Cake

"What kind of cake would you like for your birthday?" I asked my boy.

"Chocolate!" came the reply.

This would be his standard answer every year. He is a big chocolate fan. Anything chocolate, he will eat. His birthday falls on a Saturday, and I don't want to waste a Saturday morning baking a cake, cooling it, then frosting it. I am not a big fan of frosted cakes/cookies either. A dust of icing sugar is good enough for me. I find frosted cakes too sweet. But for a kid, a birthday cake is not a birthday cake if it turns out plain with just a candle, without the frosting. Like the one below ...

I have been looking through books and blogs, hoping to find a recipe that will yield a light and yet "not-overly-sweet" cake. In addition, the cake should taste good when left overnight, as I am planning to frost it only the next day. After looking through many recipes, I finally settled on Nutella Butter Cake, from HappyHomeBaking. Thank you, HappyHomeBaking, for sharing yet another yummy recipe from your kitchen =)

As I have no idea how sweet the cake will taste, I pour half the batter into an 8" disposable shallow round pan, and the other half, I pour it into my "GingerBread Man and Christmas Trees" pan from Wilton. This way, the kids can have the "GingerBread Man and Christmas Trees" as snacks after school, and I get to taste the sweetness of the cake as well.

The "Gingerbread Man" cake has a little crispy on the outside, maybe because I have left them in the oven for a little longer than I should have. But the cake itself is very soft! I could do with a little less sugar the next round, or maybe, a little less Nutella. As for the cake itself, I think I have underbaked it ... so I did a second cake, using half the recipe, after dinner.

Will have to wait till tomorrow, and hopefully the cake taste good with Nutella Cream Cheese frosting!

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese
4 tbsp Butter
3 tsp Icing Sugar
1-2 tbsp Nutella

• Beat the cream cheese and butter.
• Add Nutella. Mix well.
• Add icing sugar. Adjust to taste.
• Spread on cake and leave cake in the fridge to set the frosting.

Yummy! I love cream cheese!