Nutella Cake (VIDEO)

This Chocolate Nutella cake is a perfect dessert for chocolate and hazelnut lovers! It's a gorgeous combination of moist chocolate sponge cakes, luxurious Nutella mousseline cream (German buttercream) as filling and frosting, and chopped hazelnut as decoration! This lovely layered cake is sure to impress your guests at any dinner or birthday celebration!

Jump to:

• 🌟 Why this is the best recipe
• 📝 Ingredient notes
• 👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe
• 🎓 Expert tips
• 🥣 Equipment Notes
• ❓Recipe FAQs
• 🍰 More Cake Recipes
• Nutella Cake (VIDEO)

🌟 Why this is the best recipe

1. It's easy- This is a super easy Nutella cake recipe that is beginner-friendly! You can follow this detailed guide with easy-to-find ingredients and simple steps!
2. From scratch recipe - Yes, using a cake mix might sound easy and quick. However, the taste and flavors definitely superior when making from-scratch recipes. This way, you can easily achieve a super moist and tender cake with incredible flavors.
3. It's super delicious - I never compromise on taste! This irresistible Nutella chocolate cake is wonderfully packed with chocolate and hazelnut flavors in every single bite!
4. No fancy equipment is needed- You will need the basic baking tools such as an oven, digital kitchen scale, electric hand mixer, cake pan, and other simple things to make this dreamy Nutella chocolate cake recipe.
5. It looks so pretty! - This cake looks as good as it tastes, can be a star at any dinner table!

📝 Ingredient notes

For the Chocolate sponge layers

1. All-purpose flour - All-purpose flour works best for this recipe or any low protein content flour! If you want to learn more about different types of flour, do check out my flour guide.
2. Eggs - Make sure that the eggs are at room temperature. It's important to achieve the best emulsification.
3. Cocoa powder - Use only unsweetened, dutch-processed cocoa powder for the Chocolate cake layers. The base of this Nutella cake is chocolate cake layers and the cocoa powder will provide the chocolate flavor and color.
4. Sugar: We will use both brown sugar and granulated white sugar for this Nutella cake recipe. If you're interested in learning about the different kinds of sugar used in baking, do check out my sugar guide.
5. Baking soda and baking powder: This duo will nicely increase the volume of the cake and make the texture lighter. For more info check my baking powder article and baking soda article.
6. Salt: Use a little amount of it to balance the sweetness and overall flavor!
7. Vegetable oil: Use oil instead of butter to make the chocolate sponge layers. There are various vegetable oil out there, do choose the one with no flavor
8. Milk - Whole milk at room temperature. Milk and coffee are the liquid ingredients of this chocolate cake layer, which means they need to be added in the correct amount so you can achieve the right consistency of the cake mixture.
9. Coffee - You can brew espresso at home and use it the cake batter. Coffee will wonderfully enhance the chocolatey flavor of your cake. No, the cake won't taste like coffee!

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

For the Nutella frosting

This frosting is super light and nothing like the typical Nutella buttercream frosting or Chocolate buttercream! No need to use an extensive amount of sugar, nor heavy cream. Check my Nutella frosting post for more details.

1. Milk - Use whole milk for the creaming texture
2. Egg - We'll only need the yolk of the eggs. Also, make sure that the eggs are at room temperature so they can blend nicely.
3. Sugar - Simple, granulated white sugar will be fine in this recipe. Feel free to reduce the amount of sugar to your preference. Be sure to check out my sugar guide to learn about sugar.
4. Corn starch - Along with plain flour, this ingredient will add some thickness to the frosting.
5. Flour - All-purpose flour (a.k.a. plain flour) will do the job. If you're interested in learning more about flour, please check out my flour guide.
6. Chocolate - Only use semi-sweet, good-quality chocolate as it will significantly affect the taste. Finely chop the chocolate before mixing it into the mixture.
7. Nutella - It's the highlight of this cake! Nutella, this iconic chocolate hazelnut spread is of course a must to make Nutella cake.
8. Butter - Use only unsalted batter. This way, you can control the saltiness of the mixture more easily. Make sure that the butter is at room temperature. It needs to be soft, but not melted.
9. Cocoa powder - Use good quality unsweetened cocoa powder

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

👩‍🍳 How to make this recipe

1. How to make chocolate sponges

This Chocolate cake recipe is super easy and you can start by gathering all of the ingredients.

Don't forget to use a digital kitchen scale so you can get the most accurate measurements. Then, preheat the oven to 180C/356 F (no fan).

After that, follow these steps:

1. Prepare the cake pan. You will need 3 round cake pans of the same size (15 cm/16 inch). Grease them and line them with parchment paper.
2. In a big bowl, whip together the egg, oil, sugar, coffee, and milk for 1-2 minutes. These are "wet ingredients".
3. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. These will be the "dry ingredients". Sifting is important to avoid any lumps in the batter.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold them carefully until combined.
5. Grab the cake pans. Divide the batter equally into those 3 pans - use a digital kitchen scale.
6. Your cake batter is ready to bake. Now, check the oven temperature using a digital oven thermometer to make sure that the interior temperature suits this cake.
7. Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes. During the final minutes, insert a toothpick or skewer into the middle of the cakes. If it comes out clean, your cakes are ready.
8. Let the moist chocolate cakes cool completely on the cooling rack. Then, let them chill in the fridge before assembling the cake

💡 Top Tip: Cold ingredients don't emulsify well. So, make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature before mixing eg. milk, coffee, and eggs

2. How to make Nutella frosting

Since it's not a regular Nutella buttercream, there is some process to follow. We're going to start with making a chocolate pastry cream. I have a more detailed post about how to make Nutella frosting, check it out if you want to learn more.

1. Grab a mixing bowl and a hand whisk. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until slightly fluffy. It will take about 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the cornstarch and flour to the mixture. Continue mixing. Combine them very well until it becomes a smooth paste.
3. Grab a saucepan and heat the milk over medium heat. Once it starts simmering, remove it from the heat.
4. Then, pour it over the previous mixture and whisk vigorously.
5. Pour back the combined mixture into the saucepan. Cook it over medium heat until it gets thicker. It will take about 2-3 minutes. Use a hand whisk to whisk it until it gets smooth and glossy. If it gets lumpy, you can strain it after cooking to avoid any lumps.
6. Mix the chocolate into the mixture in 3 batches. Combine them using a rubber spatula until incorporated well.
7. Pour the mixture over a shallow bowl and cover it with plastic wrap to avoid the air drying out the surface.

Preparing the Nutella frosting

The next step is converting the chocolate pastry cream into Nutella buttercream frosting. Don't worry, it's super easy!

1. Make sure that the chocolate pastry cream has cooled to room temperature. Also, make sure that the unsalted butter is soft at room temperature, not melted.
2. Whip the soft butter for a few minutes. Then, mix in the cocoa powder and Nutella. Keep whipping for 1-2 minutes.
3. Gradually add the chocolate pastry cream in 4 batches. Keep whipping until the cream has a stable, fluffy texture.
4. You can refrigerate the cream for an hour before assembling the cake

Besides cakes, this frosting is perfect also for frosting cupcakes. Check my Nutella cupcakes recipe.

💡 Top Tip: Avoid overwhipping this Nutella frosting. Once it reaches the perfect consistency, stop whipping. Otherwise, the frosting will get runny.

3. How to assemble the cake

We're going to assemble the chocolate sponge cakes with the Nutella frosting and finish our Nutella chocolate cake! However, remember that the frosting is needed for filling and decorating as well so make sure you leave some for the decorating part.

1. Start assembling the cake from bottom to top. Fill each layer with 200 grams of Nutella frosting using an offset spatula.
2. Repeat the same process for the second cake layer. Again, make sure that the frosting is applied evenly.
3. Finally, place the third layer of chocolate sponge cake on top
4. Let the cake chill for an hour before finalizing
5. Chill the cake for 30 minutes before applying the crumb coat
6. Then, chill the cake again for 30 minutes and apply the final frosting
7. Again, chill the cake for 1 hour before proceeding with the decoration

For the decoration, place the remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with star nozzle top and pipe decoration on top. Apply some roasted chopped hazelnut on top and at the sides of the cake. You can also get creative by adding some chocolate shavings or pouring Nutella on top of the cake!

💡 Top Tip: Make sure that the filling is evenly and symmetrically applied so that the final cake will look nice and firm. Uneven fillings may cause the cake to "slide" or even fall.

🎓 Expert tips

1. Always measure the ingredients using a digital kitchen scale. Cup measurements aren't always accurate.
2. Make sure that all ingredients for the cake batter and the frosting are at room temperature. Cold or warm ingredients can ruin the consistency of the mixture.
3. Grease the pans and line them with parchment paper so you can easily remove the cakes after baking.
4. Avoid overmixing the Nutella frosting. Once it gets stable and fluffy, stop the whipping process right away.
5. Refrigerate the cake before applying the Nutella frosting. The temperature of the cake is super important during the assembling process. If the cake is too warm, the filling will get runny and it can lead to sliding cake layers.

🥣 Equipment Notes

To measure the ingredients, be sure to use a digital kitchen scale. It will help you achieve the best accuracy!

To prepare the batter, you can use an electric hand mixer and rubber spatula. Yep, you don't need a stand mixer. Then, pour the batter into three cake pans of the same size (15 cm/6 inch round cake pans).

Before the actual baking process, remember to check the oven temperature using a digital oven thermometer.

After the baking, you can put the cake layers on a cooling rack to let them cool down.

As for the assembling process, you can use a cake turntable and offset spatula to easily apply the frosting.

❓Recipe FAQs

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