his photo was taken by photographer Jack Bradley and depicts the exact moment this boy, Harold Whittles, hears for the very first time ever. The doctor treating him has just placed an earpiece in his left ear. Date unknown.

Street Art of the Day: A nifty homage to The Wizard of Oz, spotted on the streets of Verona, Italy.

Red Velvet Nutella Cake-in-a-Jar

* 1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared according to package directions
* 1 teaspoon red food coloring
* 1/2 cup Nutella
* 1 jar cream cheese frosting
* 3 pint-sized canning jars

Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Stir the red food coloring into the prepared cake batter. Spoon about 1 cup of cake batter into each jar. Cook one jar at a time in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or until the cake is cooked through. Allow jars to cool slightly, then scoop the top half of cake from the jar. Spoon a tablespoon or so of Nutella into the center of the jar, top with a dollop of cream cheese frosting, then replace the top half of the cake back in the jar, add another layer of Nutella, then enough frosting to fill the rest of the jar.

Serve immediately or cover with a lid and store in the fridge or pop into the mail & surprise someone you love! Cakes should stay fresh in the fridge for up to 5 days, and can be mailed so long as they are topped with a canning jar lid and arrive at their final destination within 3 days.

Nutella Breakfast Muffins

Nutella Breakfast Muffins

* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup oil
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup flour
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Nut & Butter flavoring (optional)
* 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 1/2 cup Nutella
* 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt with 1 tablespoon sparkling sugar

BabbleNutellaMuffin3 150x150 Nutella Breakfast MuffinsPreheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the egg, oil, sugar, flour, baking powder, soda, and vanilla flavorings until smooth. Beat in the buttermilk, then spoon a small amount of the batter into the bottom of a muffin tin lined with a cupcake wrapper. Spoon a tablespoon or so of Nutella into the center of the cup, then cover with a second spoonful of batter. Sprinkle a small amount of the salt & sparkling sugar mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake in preheated oven for 17-19 minutes, or just until the center of the muffins spring back when touched lightly with your finger. Remove and cool. Drizzle warm Nutella on top of each muffin, if desired, before serving. Enjoy!

Non-news:
Lilly Collins, daughter of Phil Collins, bears a striking resemblance to Audrey Hepburn.

Rainbow Cake in Jar

Rainbow Cake in Jar

* 1 box white cake mix made according to package instructions
* Neon food coloring in pink, yellow, green, turquoise, and purple
* 3 one-pint canning jars
* 1 can vanilla frosting
* Rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Scoop about 1/2 cups of cake batter into five small bowls. It doesn’t have to be perfect, don’t panic if you get a little more of less of one color than another. Tint each bowl of cake batter with the food coloring until very vibrant.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the purple batter into the bottom of each jar. Spoon equal amounts of turquoise batter, then green, yellow, and pink. Place the jars in a shallow baking dish, add about 1/4″ in water in the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Remove jars and allow to cool completely before scooping a small portion from the top of your cake and adding a hefty dollop of vanilla buttercream to the top. Sprinkle & serve, or cover with a lid and store in the fridge or pop into the mail & surprise someone you love!

POST EDIT: Several commenters have indicated that the cake is not cooking all the way through in the 30-35 minutes indicated in the recipe. This was enough time for our cake, but I’m cooking at high altitudes, and my oven tends to bake hot. So, I’d recommend baking the cake for 40 minutes, then return it to the oven if it still doesn’t spring back to the touch when you check to see if it’s finished. As for the cake puffing up and out of it’s bottle, ours did that a bit, as well. Easy fix. We just scooped a bit of the cake out to make room for the frosting and wiped the outside of our jars clean. Several people have indicated that the wide-mouthed mason jars work a little better for this purpose. I’ve not yet baked with wide-mouthed. What you see above is what was baked in my kitchen according to the recipe instructions, and what came out of the oven when it was all. Of course, if you’re feeling wildly impatient, you can also zap the cake in the microwave for 2 minutes. It’s going to bubble up, for sure, but you can scoop the top part of that cake out, frost it, and no one will ever be the wiser. Good luck, everyone! This is such a fun cake. My kids went nuts over it, and I hope it works as beautifully for you as it did for us!

Lago di Olginate, Italy

A layer of low clouds covers the alpine valleys of northern Italy, just south of Lake Como. The clouds are just dense enough to hide uniformly the valley and also filter the artificial lights below like they were an opaque blanket. Above the layer, moonlight and high cirrus clouds make the night less dark. You can recognize the round shape of Lago di Olginate and the lights of the villages all around its banks.