Tender and moist, this pound cake is loaded with buttery flavor and sweet Nutella swirls. It will melt in your mouth.
This is what happens when I see Nutella on sale. I stock up and make things like Nutella frosting, Nutella crinkle cookies, and Nutella puppy chow. About 2 years ago, I found a recipe on Food & Wine for Nutella Swirl Pound Cake, saving it on my computer for a rainy day to make it. I forgot about it for awhile and going through my browser bookmarks the other day, I was instantly inspired. I had to make it!
(No, it wasn’t a rainy day. It was a day I had an abundance of Nutella. The best of days.)
Lightly spiced with cinnamon, heavily swirled with Nutella, moist & tender, you are going to love slicing yourself off a piece of this decadent pound cake. What would make this slice even better? A huge scoop of vanilla ice cream.
For days you don’t have Nutella on hand, you’ll also love my marble loaf cake. It’s just as buttery and rich with prominent vanilla & chocolate flavors.
Print
Nutella Swirl Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Tender and moist, this pound cake is loaded with buttery flavor and sweet Nutella swirls. It will melt in your mouth.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Nutella, divided and warmed*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ยฐF (163ยฐC). Spray 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Set aside. In another medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Set that aside as well.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using a handheld mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes. With the mixer running on low speed, add the egg/vanilla mixture and continue to beat until smooth and light in color. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter is very thick and very sticky. Do not overmix the batter.
- Spread 1/3 of the batter into prepared loaf pan. Spread 6 Tablespoons of the Nutella on top. Nutella is very thick and hard to spread, but do your best to make it one even layer. Repeat with another 1/3 of the batter and the rest of the Nutella. Top with remaining cake batter.
- Bake the pound cake for 50-60 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil after 25 minutes to avoid the top and sides form browning too much. Slight browning is OK. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out free of cake crumbs (with some Nutella). The original recipe stated 1 hour and 15 minutes, but that was much too long for my cake. I fear it would be burnt and dry. 50 minutes is how long mine took, but yours may take longer.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before slicing and serving. Cake stays soft, moist, and fresh stored at room temperature for up to 6 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze this pound cake for up to 3 months. Bake it, cool it, then wrap it in aluminum foil and freeze the loaf as a whole. Allow the cake to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Nutella: I like to lightly warm the Nutella before layering it into the pan. I simply microwave it for about 15 seconds. This makes it easier to layer into the batter, as well as helps prevent it sinking to the bottom of the pound cake.
- Adapted from Food & Wine.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Do you have any suggestions as to other things to swirl in besides Nutella?
Hi Anne, we haven’t tested it with this recipe, but imagine you could swirl in a jam or fruit preserve.
I have made your excellent lemon pound cake a number of times; it fits perfectly in a 6 cup Bundt pan. Is there a reason why I canโt/shouldnโt swirl Nutella into that recipe? (Obviously omitting the lemon juice/zest).
Hi Barbara, I don’t see why not! Let us know how it turns out!
Had a chance to try the substitution this week. While the lemon pound cake is *fabulous,* I found that subbing the Nutella for the lemon made it too sweet for me (not for my husband, though ). Also, the extra volume of the added Nutella pushed the capacity of the 6 cup Bundt pan โ I thought it was going to overflow, so added a sheet of aluminum on a rack below (baked it in a Breville Air Fryer Pro). All together, the cake took much longer to bake than when it was a simple lemon pound cake.
This is the best cake. Not to sweet and very easy to make. I make many of your recipes Sally and they are always on point!! Thank you for another winner
Delicious! My husbands new favorite recipe.
Hi! The recipe sounds great! Wondering if the sugar could be mixed in with the dry ingredients instead of when the butter is creamed? Am wanting to prep the recipe as a jar gift (dry ingredients layered in a jar with recipe attached)โฆ should I keep the sugar separate in a baggie at the top or can it be incorporated with the rest of the dry ingredient layers in the jar? Thank you for your recipesโฆ Sallyโs is my go to site for baked goodies.
Hi Kelly, what a fun idea! The creamed butter and sugar make up the base of this pound cake and shouldn’t be added separately. We would keep it separate from the other ingredients so it can be creamed with the butter. Hope it’s a hit!
Hi. Are we really supposed to leave the cake in the pan on top of a wire rack the whole time it cools? Or do we leave it in the pan for 10 mins. and then remove it and let it finish cooling on the rack. Thank you.
Hi Rosanna, we like to cool our cakes in the pan, but if you are more comfortable only slightly cooling and then inverting onto a cooling rack, you can certainly do so. Hope you enjoy the pound cake!
Excellent recipe! Big hit baking with my son! Loved it!
Hi Sallyy! Youโre my go to recipe when baking. Can I try this with bread flour? I have a lot of bread flour on hand right now and Iโm unsure where to use it. Im hoping to use it in a recipe that is sweet. Thank you !
Hi Risse, thank you so much! I don’t recommend bread flour for this pound cake– the texture will be overly dense. Here are all of my recipes using bread flour since you’re searching for options!
Excellent recipe..I have baked this cake 3 times in 1 weeks time. Everyone loved it in my family and at my work place. I was never confident with baking but after following your recipe and some basic tips from friend of mine now I can confidently try some more cake recipes. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
I tried this, and again and again. One of the best cakes Iโve ever made! Thanks, Sally!
Can this be frozen after it is baked?
Absolutely. Bake it, cool it, then wrap it in aluminum foil and freeze the loaf as a whole. Allow the cake to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving. The cake freezes well up to 3 months.
Excellent Recepie..cake was super moist . Every one loved it
Another recipe success! Thank you Sally! I made this for my best friend and her mom and they loved it!! The yummy crunch on the top and sides and the subtle Nutella flavor was their favorite. You are consistently my go-to for all my new baking recipes. โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
My husband was craving pound cake and I had a Costco size jar of Nutella – so I decided to make this . It did not disappoint . This is by no means a light cake . It is super buttery and all things delicious . My only complaint would be Not being able to make it last more than a day . Hubby went to town lol
Hi Sally! I love your recipes! They always turn out fantastic ๐ย
I was wondering if brown sugar would work instead of white sugar in this recipe? I was also wondering if instead of Nutella I could make this a chocolate chip pound cake?ย
I have made this once before exactly as per your recipe and it was absolutely amazing! Thanks a ton!ย
Anu, you can add chocolate chips to this pound cake. I don’t suggest using ALL brown sugar. How about trying 1/2 cup of each?
Hello Sally! It wondering if I can put the batter in an oven safe glass cake pan and bake it in that instead? Does anything need to be changed? Thank You!
Grace, that works! The baking time will be less.
This looks amazing and I do really want to try although I don’t have a loaf pan at all. Have you ever tried it or think it would be possible with like a muffin tin just making them smaller? Was thinking to possibly attempt it this week to try my baking hand at a new recipe.
You can definitely use this batter for muffins, Ana. I’m unsure of the exact baking time though.
could i leave out the nutella and make it as a plain pound cake instead?
Definitely. Enjoy!
Hi Jerica! You can bake this nutella pound cake in a Bundt cake pan, but it will be a pretty small/short Bundt cake. 1.5x the recipe would work wonderfully, but you may have extra batter leftover. Only fill the Bundt pan about 2/3 full.