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!

How we're going to make this cake:

Part 1: Baking the Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and grease your cake pans:

2. In a bowl designated for dry ingredients, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Next to your chocolate mixture, add brewed coffee, oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar. Mix together until well blended.

4. Transfer your cake batter to cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Set aside and allow to completely cool before icing. I used cake strips to ensure the cake layers came out flat - see my tutorial here

Part 2: Nutella Buttercream Filling

1. Gather your ingredients. 

2. Beat 1.5 cups of unsalted, room temperature butter until pale and fluffy.

3. Add 3/4 cup of Nutella and 7.5 tsp of cocoa powder to the butter mixture, beat until well combined, scraping down sides with a spatula as necessary. 

4. Beat in 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract.

5. 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!

This is what your icing looks like once well combined:

6. Prepare your pastry bag (or use a sandwich bag). Cut off the pointed end and place a Wilton 1M or 6B tip at the end. 

7. Fit your pastry bag over a coffee mug. Transfer buttercream using spatula into the pastry bag. Lift pastry bag out of cup , twist bag & seal with clip or elastic. 

Part 3: Assemble your Cake Layers:

1. Optional step: Cut parchment paper into strips, & place edge of strips between cardboard cake plate & first cake layer all around. After we're done decorating we'll remove these for easy cleanup!

2. Pipe generous amount of Nutella Buttercream onto the first layer, smoothing the surface with a spatula and add your 2nd cake layer. 

3. Assemble the rest of your cake layers applying a generous amount of buttercream between layers. Ensure you also add buttercream to the top and sides of your cake, using a cake spatula to smooth those surfaces.

4. If you have this, use a bench scraper to smooth your buttercream layer (or cake spatula will suffice).

Part 4: Make Chocolate Ganache

1. Pour heavy cream into pot and bring to a simmer on low to medium heat - where the outer edges just begin to bubble.

2. Measure your chocolate chips into a separate bowl, and pour the heavy cream into the bowl. Stir the chocolate chips and heavy cream together until you have thick chocolate mixture - this is ganache! Set aside, we will use this in the next step. 

Part 5: Decorate your Cake!

1. Pour the Chocolate Ganache over the top of the cake a little bit at a time, spreading it evenly over the cake surface. If the ganache is too thick, heat it slightly, if too runny cool down slightly. Use a bench scraper to smooth the edges.

2. Refrigerate your cake for 5-10 minutes or just until the ganache hardens. 

3. Once you remove cake from fridge, take a knife and lightly tick the cake in 9ths. This is because we are marking where we are going to add the ferrero rochers. 

4. Take nutella buttercream (with 6B or 1M Wilton Tip) & pipe over the tick marks we made in the previous step in a small circular motion. Then add the ferrero rochers on top of each rosette we piped.

5. Now we remove the parchment paper strips. I used a cake spatula to stabilize the bottom edge of the cake to prevent icing on the bottom from pulling when you pull away the strips.

Here are some final pictures!