M & M Nutella Cake, #BundtaMonth

Finally, our flight from Tokyo would land at San Francisco International Airport. My sister and I would charge through customs; bear-hug Great-Uncle George and make a beeline for the closest store selling American candy. Today, Snickers and M & Ms are rare commodities sold in expensive Tokyo supermarkets specializing in imports. (Aspirin-looking hybrids of M & Ms, however, are more readily available.) In the ‘60s and ‘70s (don’t do the math!) we were lucky if we found Swiss Toblerone. American candy was a treasure reserved only for kids on the military bases. So, upon touchdown on American soil, the first order of business was always candy.

Traditional American chocolates in Japan may be hard to find.
However, variations of the Kit Kat bar and gems like the pictured
strawberry chocolate Apollo sweets abound.

Bless my late great-uncle. He would patiently wait as my sister and I giggled our way through the aisles grabbing chocolates and licorice. M & Ms were my favorite. Back then there were two choices: peanut and milk chocolate. I always chose the latter. I have never stopped loving M & Ms. My loyalty to the rainbow wonder of “melt in your mouth, not your hand sweets” has never waned.

M & M Nutella Cake for #BundtaMonth 

Naturally when Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora, the Cake Duchess announced a "candilicious" theme for the BundtaMonth group, my candy of choice was a no-brainer! (Scroll down for details about the baking group.) A young college student with a rather discerning palate has been the recipient of many NinjaBaking.com items. He is always appreciative and polite. But his reaction to my M & M Nutella bundt was uber-enthusiastic: “This M & M cake is your best ever!”

A rainbow of M & Ms fill this Nutella Bundt cake.

The M & M Nutella Bundt How-To:

Prepare the Nutella Cake recipe from FromAway.com.  Add 1 cup of dark chocolate
M & Ms to the batter. Pour half of the batter into a prepared bundt pan. (I spray with tons of Pam and sprinkle in panko bread crumbs.)

Whip up the cream cheese filling from Mama’s Gotta Bake. Mix in ½ cup of dark chocolate M & Ms. Drop and distribute the filling over the batter in the pan.

Pour the remaining batter over the M & M cream cheese filling.

Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Cool and drizzle with white chocolate ganache.

Rosy White Chocolate Ganache
Based on a recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• Pink food coloring

Directions:
In a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, melt the chocolate. Remove from the heat.

Heat the cream in another pan until tiny bubbles appear. Mix in pink food coloring.

Take off the heat. Pour a little bit of cream over the chocolate. Combine well, smashing as many lumps as possible with the back of the spatula. Incorporate the rest of the cream and vigorously stir again. Mix from the center of the bowl to the rim until smooth.

Drizzle over the cake. Share the bundt with friends and family. Look out for the rave reviews!

Here are a few more candilicious cakes: