Nutella Chocolate Cake

For my birthday I decided to host it at Earls Kitchen and Bar, which I also did last year! I also decided to do a Ferrero Rocher/Nutella Cake based on a picture that inspired me on Instagram. However - this one did not come with a recipe attached. So I consulted my cousin Lynne with a few ideas - and I decided on doing a multilayer chocolate cake, with nutella buttercream filling and chocolate ganache top layer, while adorning it with Ferrero Rochers.

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup brewed coffee
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream 
• 1 cup (175 grams) chocolate chips 

Nutella Buttercream

• 1.5 cups unsalted butter 
• 3/4 cup nutella 
• 7.5 tsp cocoa powder 
• 5 cups icing sugar 
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2.5 tbsp heavy cream

We are creating quite a lot of Nutella Buttercream - thats because we use the buttercream as filling and as decoration on top of the chocolate ganache!

Steps:

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Preparation of dry ingredients: in a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. 
3. Add wet ingredients: Mix in coffee, oil, and vanilla. Mix in vinegar afterwards. 
4. Put batter into greased cake pans (or cupcake liners)
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until cake tester comes clean.

For Chocolate Ganache:

1. In saucepan, heat heavy cream (simmer, not boil). 
2. Pour the cream over chocolate chips and let is rest for 2 minutes
3. Mix until smooth, and stir in butter.

Nutella Buttercream:

1. Beat butter until pale and fluffy. 
2. Add in Nutella and cocoa powder and beat in. 
3. Mix in vanilla
4. Add 2.5 cups of icing sugar & 1 tbsp of heavy cream, beat on low, then add 2.5 cups of icing sugar & 1.5 tbsp of cream beating on low until well combined. Do not overbeat or else it will be too runny!

Awesome Turkey Sausage, Cranberry & Apple Stuffing

This is a modification of a recipe from Allrecipes. In lieu of using actual Turkey Sausage, I used ground turkey with "breakfast sausage seasoning" as recommended in the reviews section. This was such a hit, and our guests kept commenting on how delicious and flavourful the stuffing was - there seemed to be more rave reviews about the stuffing than the turkey itself!

Ingredients

• 5 cups cubed bread (whole wheat or white, your choice)
• 1 pound (16 ounces, or 455 grams) of ground turkey
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 3 tsp ground sage
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Apple (Golden Delicious or Honey Crisp), cored and chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 cup turkey stock (whether store bought, or leftover turkey drippings from a roasting turkey)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees Celsius)
2. Cut your slices of bread into cubes, and spread over a large baking sheet - baking for 5-7 minutes or until evenly toasted. Transfer cubes into large bowl. 
3. Over medium heat, cook ground turkey and onions in a large skillet. Break up the clumps of turkey meat and ensure it is evenly browned. Add celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme, stirring and cooking for 2 minutes for blending of flavours. 
4. Pour your sausage mixture into your bowl with chopped bread, adding and mixing in apple, dried cranberries, garlic powder, sea salt black pepper and parsley. Add in egg, turkey stock, and melted butter, mixing well. 
5. If you are serving this as dressing (serving separately, outside of turkey), bake for 40 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered. Otherwise if you are serving this as turkey stuffing, loosely stuff turkey and bake with your turkey.