Ferrero Rocher Cake (VIDEO)

This Ferrero Rocher cake is the ultimate celebration cake with moist chocolate hazelnut sponges, silky Nutella mousseline cream (cooked chocolate pastry cream enriched with Nutella and butter), lots of crunchy hazelnuts, and crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolates. My foolproof recipe perfectly delivers on the Ferrero Rocher candies you love; it is crazy chocolatey, with deep hazelnut notes, crunchy and silky at the same time, rich, but not overly sweet due to my signature frosting recipe! Hands down, the perfect Ferrero cake that will impress everyone!

Jump to:

• How to make Ferrero Rocher cake that taste like Ferrero Rocher
• Why this is the best recipe
• Ingredient notes
• 5 Expert tips
• Equipment notes
• Recipe FAQs
• Other Cake recipe ideas for you to try
• Join my Ferrero Rocher inspired Paris-Brest dessert Online Baking Class
• The BEST Ferrero Rocher cake (VIDEO)

How to make Ferrero Rocher cake that taste like Ferrero Rocher

Ferrero Rocher candy or chocolate is a chocolate hazelnut-based confectionery product by an Italian Chocolate company called Ferrero. Ferrero Rocher was introduced in 1982 in Europe, nowadays roughly 3.6 billion Ferrero Rochers are sold each year in over 40 countries. Each Ferrero Rocher bonbon consists of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnut - in fact, I have a homemade Ferrero Rocher recipe too that beats the one from the stores!

Ferrero Rocher is made by the same company who produces Nutella so there is a reason why the filling of the Ferrero Rocher might remind you of Nutella!

To achieve the perfect Ferrero Rocher experience in a cake format our cake needs to meet the following criteria:

• Texturewise both Crunchiness & Silkiness in the filling
• Flavorwise both Chocolate & Hazelnut notes (Nutella)
• Visually decorated with Chopped roasted hazelnut

Practically for the Ferrero Rocher cake, it means that you will need to bake 3 chocolate sponge cakes. My signature chocolate sponge cake recipe is super moist and easy, you might already know it from my German chocolate cake, the slight difference is that for the Ferrero Rocher cake I replace some flour with hazelnut flour.

The cake filling and frosting are made using a super delicious silky cream called mousseline cream. Mousseline cream is effectively a cooked chocolate pastry cream that is enriched with butter, and this time with Nutella of course. Once you learn how to make the mousseline cream, you can use it for various other recipes and you might just never make Nutella buttercream ever again! It is less sweet than buttercream, with a more complex luxurious taste.

To provide the crunchiness in the texture I decided to simply crush Ferrero Rocher candy, however, Feuilletine wafer could be also used if it is available for you.

Why this is the best recipe

1. It is rather easy – As fancy as it looks, this is an easy Ferrero Rocher cake! The chocolate cake recipe can be made in one bowl, totally doable from scratch, no need to use cake mix. The filling, frosting and decoration is the same Nutella mousseline cream, no need to prepare 2-3 different kind of creams. The one part you need to pay attention to is layering the cake, but I will teach you in this recipe how to make it, keep reading
2. It is super delicious – I never compromise on taste! This Ferrero Rocher cake is super luxurious, absolutely incomparable with buttercream cakes. Crazy moist chocolate sponges, silky chocolate hazelnut filling and crunchy Ferrero Rocher chocolate in the layers... Absolutely out of this world!
3. No special equipment is needed – All you need is 3 round cake tins and a nozzle for piping the decoration. This Ferrero Rocher cake design actually can be made without too much hassle, or equipment, utilizing the same cream, roasted hazelnut, and a piping nozzle
4. It is super festive – Do I need to explain how fancy and festive this cake is? It looks amazing if I may say so myself, and can be perfect for Christmas, New Year´s Eve, or any celebration! I would love to get a Ferrero Rocher Birthday cake for my next big day:)

Ingredient notes

For the Chocolate Hazelnut cake

1. Egg: Use room temperature eggs, as always. Please do not underestimate this recommendation as cold eggs can´t properly emulsify with the rest of the ingredients
2. Oil: This chocolate cake is an oil-based cake (no butter) that keeps the cake super moist. Butter-based cakes tend to harden a lot in the fridge, with oil we won’t have this issue. Use no flavor vegetable oil
3. Milk: Whole milk at room temperature is what I recommend, again room temperature is key
4. Coffee: If you are not using coffee in your chocolate desserts, you are missing out and I think you should seriously consider trying it. Believe me, the cake won’t taste like coffee at all however it enhances the taste of chocolate. I recommend brewing a strong espresso type of coffee and using it straight away fresh (on room temperature of course). It does not impact the taste whatsoever! If you don´t have coffee at home, use lukewarm water instead
5. Sugar: Use a mix of brown and white sugar in this chocolate cake recipe. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article here
6. Flour: All purpose flour or pastry flour makes the best cakes and would be the best to use in the Ferrero Rocher cake recipe. They are so called “soft flour” which are low on protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture. Make sure you sift flour before using in the recipe to avoid lumps.
7. Hazelnut flour: About ½ cup hazelnut flour is added to the cake batter that will bring wonderful deep hazelnut notes to the chocolate cake. There are two options for hazelnut flour: you can either purchase it or use roasted hazelnut and blend it together with the flour. Make sure that you blend it with the flour together otherwise the hazelnut would become too oily on its own
8. Baking powder and baking soda: We will add 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda. They have two functions: increase the volume and lighten the texture, use both, they have slightly different function
9. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Generally always use unsweetened, 100% cocoa powder in baking. I use a so called Dutch processed cocoa powder, it has a lovely dark color, and it is lower in acidity. Make sure to sift the cocoa powder to avoid lumps
10. Salt: An essential ingredient in most dessert recipes. It balances flavor and enhances other ingredients, especially in chocolate cakes, it is an absolute must

Exact Ingredient quantities can be found in the RECIPE CARD, at the bottom of this page.

For the Nutella mousseline cream

1. Milk: Use high-fat content milk, the highest you can get! It makes a huge difference when it comes to the deepness of the cream
2. Sugar: Simple, white granulated sugar is perfectly fine
3. Egg: Some recipes call for a whole egg, however, I strongly advise using egg yolk only for the best texture and flavor while making Pastry cream. Perhaps try my pavlova or macaron recipe if you want to use up your egg whites?
4. Vanilla: The Ferrero Rocher cake frosting is a vanilla bean pastry cream based cream however the flavor will come from the Nutella and chocolate, so vanilla is not strictly necessary. If using, avoid using artificial vanilla. There are several great brands for fine, pure vanilla, I use Nielsen massey which I love and really recommend. I prefer vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract, but both can work here
5. Flour: Flour is one of the thickening agents in this pastry cream recipe, use All-purpose flour. No, it won’t taste like flour!
6. Starch: Corn starch is the other thickening agent in the recipe, theoretically you could only use flour, or only starch however I prefer 50%-50%
7. Butter: Use unsalted butter room temperature, which is soft. Room temperature is key here. If too cold, it won’t incorporate into the cream properly. If too hot/liquid, it will make the pastry cream runny. We will use butter twice, first when making the pastry cream, then when making mousseline cream using the pastry cream
8. Chocolate: We will turn the basic pastry cream into a chocolate pastry cream simply by adding chocolate into it. Use semi sweet good quality chocolate that has a pleasant taste
9. Cocoa powder: Unsweetened, 100% Dutch processed cocoa powder as per above
10. Nutella: Nutella is what makes this Ferrero Rocher cake super Ferrero Rocher taste like:)

Exact Ingredient quantities can be found in the RECIPE CARD, at the bottom of this page.

5 Expert tips

1. How to make super moist chocolate cake

This is a super easy chocolate cake recipe, once you learn it you will be able to use it with any frosting of your choice. It is very moist with velvety crumbs and crazy delicious. The best thing about it is that it comes together in less than 5 minutes!

• Prepare your baking pans: 3x 15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan as per instructions later
• The baking temperature will be 180 C / 356 F but preheat oven +20C / 68F as oven temp will drop when you open the door and place the baking tins in
• Consider using a Digital oven thermometer to understand your real oven temp
• Ingredients must be all measured with a Digital scale
• Eggs, milk, coffee must be at room temperature
• Beat the wet ingredients (oil, sugar, milk, coffee and eggs) with an Electric hand mixer for a minute or two until combined. Alternatively, this step can be made with a hand whisk too
• Sift dry ingredients together (flour, hazelnut flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder) then pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
• Dry ingredients must be folded in by hand (using Rubber spatula). Do not use a mixer at this point
• Pour cake batter into the prepared baking pans (15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan), divide the batter equally into the 3 pans using a Digital scale
• Do not open the oven door during baking. After 25-30 minutes check the middle of the cake with a toothpick. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Let the chocolate sponges cool completely on a cooling rack, then the best if chill them before filling. Please note that the sponges are very fragile while hot, do not break them

Should you come across any issues, please check my article about potential baking problems eg. sinking cake, and how to avoid it.

2. How to avoid cake sticking to the pan

That is a whole topic on its own and the right preparation depends on the type of cake and/or pan however with this type of cake and cake pan I use the following; with the help of a pastry brush, brush the inside of the cake pan with a tiny bit of oil then use parchment paper on the bottom and side as well. The oil is only needed for the parchment to stick to the pan. What I love about this pan preparation is that with the help of the parchment paper it is incredibly easy to release the cake from the pan.

Might sound like a bit of extra work but you will certainly avoid disappointment.

3. How to prepare the pastry cream for the mousseline cream

Pastry cream is the most delicious, silky custard-like cooked cream filling used in many types of dessert, like mousse cakes or filling cream puffs, etc. For the mousseline cream, you will have to make a pastry cream first, then wait until it sets, then whip it up with Nutella and butter.

I have a whole detailed Baking Guide with tons of tips about making the perfect pastry cream with detailed Troubleshooting etc. In short, prepare the following:

• In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, mix together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes
• Mix in corn starch, flour, and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
• Bring milk to boil in a saucepan on medium heat, then remove it as soon as it starts simmering. Make sure it is simmering but not crazy boiling as that can cook the eggs
• Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk. This stage is effectively tempering the egg yolks, and the mixture should already start to slightly thicken
• Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely, it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, but don’t worry, just keep whisking, and the cream will get smooth and glossy. It’s worth keeping a good quality (so that the milk won’t burn in it) small/medium-sized saucepan for making pastry cream only
• If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump-free, creamy result
• Add in chocolate (finely chopped or in chocolate chips format), and mix with a Rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth adding the chocolate in 3 stages and mixing well after each addition.
• The Pastry cream needs to be completely set before using it to make the filling for the Ferrero Rocher cake. Place the cream into a shallow bowl or container and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it set either in the fridge or at room temperature

Please note that Pastry cream can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days, but cannot be frozen.

4. How to prepare the Nutella mousseline cream

What is Crème Mousseline

In a nutshell, Crème pâtissière (pastry cream) is the perfect base for other custard-like creams and can be taken to the next level such as:

Crème Diplomat: Crème Diplomat is a lighter version of the French Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière). Basically, it is Crème Pâtissière with added whipped cream and gelatin (optionally). Whipped cream makes it lighter and fluffier and the gelatin makes it more stable. Gelatin is not strongly needed, depending on the type of cake

Crème Mousseline: Crème Mousseline is classic Pastry Cream enriched with soft butter that makes the pastry cream extra rich and also more stable to pipe, kind of like buttercream, but way more delicious.

The famous French choux pastry ring Paris-Brest is made with mousseline cream, as well as my French strawberry cake: Fraisier cake! This time, we are making Nutella mousseline cream!

The process of making Nutella mousseline cream

This Ferrero cake will be filled and frosted with Nutella mousseline cream. The process of making mousseline cream is simple, however, you have to be careful with the temperature of the ingredients:

• The chocolate pastry cream must be set, but not cold meaning either let it cool at room temp or cool it in the fridge, then let it come back to room temperature
• The butter needs to be soft. Soft butter means soft enough without hard butter chunks for the mixer to cream it, but do not melt it in the microwave as melted butter can´t be creamed
• If either pastry cream or butter is too cold or too warm, you won´t be able to whip up the mixture properly, as either butter will stay in chunks, or the entire mixture will break and curdle
• So once pastry cream is set but not cold and butter is soft, move butter into your Stand mixer fitted with your whisk attachment and start creaming the butter for a few minutes until it becomes fluffy. Alternatively, the mixing process can be made with an Electric hand mixer too
• Once butter is creamy and pale, add in cocoa powder and whip for another minute
• Next, whip in Nutella until combined
• Then, start adding the room temp pastry cream in 4 steps (adding always ¼ only) while the mixer is still on
• Cream mixture until it reached a fluffy, pipeable consistency. This will take about 3 minutes
• Make sure you do not over whip the cream at this point, as it can get runny. You should stop whipping the mixture effectively when it is fluffy and creamy before it would start curdling

If the cream is firm enough, start assembling the cake. If it is more on the soft side (that is normal due to the butter being soft), place it into the fridge for an hour. Due to the butter content mousseline cream gets firmer in the fridge over time and will be easier to frost the cake with it.

5. How to assemble the Ferrero rocher cake

Once you have all elements of the cake ready, it is time to finally assemble our Ferrero Rocher cake! Make sure that 1. the chocolate sponges chilled 2. mousseline cream is stable to frost the cake (if more on the soft side, chill it)

Please note that you will need to use the cream for 1. filling 2. frosting 3. piping decoration so make sure you have enough cream left for each!

1. Start layering the cake from bottom to top and fill each layer with the Nutella frosting. Pipe cream on top, another layer around the sponge then fill the middle with crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolate
2. Continue with the second layer and apply the same
3. Finally, finish with a 3rd layer of chocolate sponge cake
4. At each layer please check how even the layers are, and make sure they are symmetrical with even layers
5. Chill the cake either 1h in the fridge or 15min in the freezer before proceeding with frosting on the outside
6. Once the cake is nicely chilled, frost the cake. You can pipe the cream around the cake first, then smooth it with an offset spatula. Try to work as neat as possible, but no need to worry if it is not perfect.
7. Chill the cake again either 1h in the fridge or 15min in the freezer before proceeding with decoration
8. Apply roasted chopped hazelnut all around and on the top of the cake and pipe some decoration on top using the same Nutella mousseline cream

TIP: During layering, frosting, and decoration the cake, make sure that the cake is nicely chilled at all times. If at any point cream or cake layers get warm, chill it in the fridge before proceeding to the next step

Equipment notes

Considering how beautiful this FereroRocher cake is, you really won´t need too much equipment to make it.

First and foremost, make sure you measure the ingredients with the help of a Digital scale. Cup measurement is highly inaccurate and can cause all sorts of baking disappointments.

For mixing use an Electric hand mixer, while for folding every Baker needs a Rubber spatula.

For baking the sponges, you will need round cake pans, I suggest a 15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan, while an Offset spatula is super handy to smooth the frosting.

For piping the decoration on the cake you will need a Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip. Finally, for any layered cake, a Cake turntable is super handy.

Recipe FAQs

Other Cake recipe ideas for you to try

Christmas tree cake - Learn step-by-step how to make this surprisingly easy, yet showstopper 3D Christmas tree cake! Besides how impressive it looks, this Christmas tree cake also tastes amazing with deep and natural chocolate and pistachio notes. Recipe in here

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Chocolate Orange Bundt cake -  This easy yet festive cake features a melt in your mouth Orange Bundt is loaded with candied orange zest, topped with a super easy chocolate glaze, and decorated with homemade candied orange slices and lovely Christmas spices like cinnamon and star anise. Recipe in here

Tiramisu cakeroll - My Tiramisu cake roll recipe consists of a super fluffy Japanese-style sponge cake, that is easy to roll without breaking it. The sponge is drizzled with rich espresso, then rolled up with an airy, light whipped mascarpone cream filling. Epic! Recipe in here

Marble loaf cake- This wonderful moist Marble Loaf cake (Pound cake) is the perfect elegant yet easy teacake to serve for breakfast, or as a dessert! My "Better than Starbucks Marble cake" consists of fluffy and delicious swirl of Vanilla and Chocolate cake covered with a 3 ingredients crunchy chocolate hazelnut glaze! Recipe in here

Cardamom cake - This easy Cardamom cake with coffee glaze is an unforgettable flavor and texture combination, and can be a great addition to your holiday baking list. Definitely a must-make tea cake during Fall and Winter, but might just become your favorite Bundt cake all year round! Recipe in here

Join my Ferrero Rocher inspired Paris-Brest dessert Online Baking Class

If you want to try the most delicious combination of my Ferrero Rocher cake and Paris-Brest dessert, you must sign up for my Online baking class where I will teach you how to make the most amazing Ferrero Rocher-inspired Paris-Brest dessert!