This creamy and delicious Nutella frosting is a decadent chocolatey treat perfect for topping your cakes and so many other uses. With just a handful of simple ingredients, you can create a wonderfully rich and silky chocolate hazelnut frosting that will add a touch of elegance to any dessert.
Start with chocolate pastry cream for the Nutella frosting
In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, whisk together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes
Mix in corn starch and flour until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
Bring milk to simmering in a saucepan on medium heat
Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.
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, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy. If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump free, creamy end result
Add in chocolate in 3 stages, and mix with a Rubber spatula until completely incorporated. Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it cool to room temperature
Preparing the Nutella frosting
The Nutella frosting can be made with room temperature chocolate pastry cream, Nutella, cocoa powder, and room temp soft butter. Make sure everything is room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle
Once the pastry cream is set and at room temp, prepare the frosting by whipping room temp butter first for a few minutes, then whip in the cocoa powder and Nutella for 1-2 minutes
Start adding in the room temperature pastry cream in 4 stages until the cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture. Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny
Chill the cream if needed for an hour before proceeding with your recipe
Store refrigerated for 2-3 days
Video
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES:
Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
For the Nutella frosting, it is key to use good quality unsweetened dark cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate so that they don´t overpower the Nutella taste but balances it
TECHNIQUE NOTES:
Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking
Let the pastry cream be properly set before whipping it up into Nutella frosting
While whipping, pay very close attention to the consistency and stop whipping immediately after it gets fluffy. Over beating would result in breaking the cream and instead of becoming stiffer, in fact, it will get runnier