Happy belated World Nutella Day everyone! While Nutella Day was yesterday, we didn't get to actually enjoy this cake until today... hubby's birthday.
I am so happy to report that this cake turned out even better than I could have ever hoped it would! It is incredibly moist and rich but not so sweet it will make your teeth ache for days. Family and friends are coming out of the woodwork, hoping to be able to score a slice... they'd better hurry.
About a month ago I asked hubs what he wanted for his birthday cake this year, and he asked for three options to pick from. I showed him three of my favourites from
Pinterest and he chose the Chocolate Cheesecake Cake from Recipe Girl. I was planning on simply following the recipe, I mean, hello? It looks incredible just the way it is. Creativity took over when I realized that the day before his birthday was World Nutella Day... then inspiration struck. I ended up making the cheesecake portion of my
Nutella Cheesecake Squares for the filling,
Recipe Girl's chocolate layers and adapted a Nutella cream cheese frosting from
rhapsody in boots.
The first thing I did was get ready, by collecting my biggest helpers in the kitchen, Chelsea, Nutella and my KitchenAid stand mixer.
We made the cheesecake layer first, as you need to freeze it first before stacking the layers and frosting. I didn't bother smoothing the top before baking it, it wasn't going to show anyway. We made the cheesecake layer around lunchtime.
After dinner, we started on the chocolate layers. I'm always over-cautious and use non-stick spray, flour (or in this case cocoa because it's a chocolate cake), AND parchment (and then give the parchment a spray for good measure).
We spread the batter as equally as we could between the two pans, smoothing out the tops with a small offset spatula.
Once the cake layers were cooled, it was time to start assembling the cake. Since I baked the cheesecake with parchment on the bottom as well, it was easy to get out of the pan. Because it was frozen, I just popped open the pan, used a knife to gently pry the bottom of the springform off and peeled the parchment off. Then I placed it on top of the bottom cake layer.
Once I put the top layer on, I had to go around a trim a bit of the cheesecake because it was a bit larger than the cake layers... yum!
Chelsea has now gone to bed, the roasted hazelnuts are cooling and the Nutella cream cheese frosting is ready to go.
I gave the cake a quick and dirty crumb coat, put the cake caddy cover on and set it in the fridge for about 20 minutes while I cleaned the mixer paddle... double yum.
I gave the cake a nice coat of frosting and then chopped the nuts roughly and using my hands, patted them on to the outside of the cake, reserving a couple whole ones for the top. Voila!
... and finally, the recipe!
My Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Cake
For the cheesecake layer
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
In stand mixer with paddle attachment (or in large mixing bowl with hand mixer), beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in sugar, vanilla and flour and continue beating, adding eggs one at a time. Let beat on medium speed for another minute or until smooth.
Prepare a 9" springform pan by spraying it with non-stick spray and lining the bottom with parchment. Even though this cheesecake was not being baked in a water bath, I still wrapped it with some foil for insulating value. Pour about 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared pan.
Add the Nutella to the remaining batter and beat on med-low speed until well combined, about 30 seconds or so. Spoon the Nutella batter randomly on top of the plain layer and using a butter knife, swirl it in to get your desired marbled effect.
Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off heat, crack the door open, and allow it to cool in the oven before removing it. Once cooled, wrap the pan in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for at least 2 hours to firm up well.
For the cake layer
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant espresso powder
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups buttermilk divided (Oops! I just now realized the original recipe was 1 1/4 cups, but my cake was awesome, so I say go with more buttermilk!)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
In stand mixer with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and espresso powder. On low speed, add in the eggs, butter, vanilla and 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed and then turn up to medium-high speed (or high with a hand mixer) and mix for 2 minutes. Add in remaining buttermilk on the lowest speed and mix for about 30 seconds, until it is just incorporated.
Spread batter equally between two prepared 9" cake pans and bake on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. My oven is a bit slow and in hindsight, mine could have used an extra minute or two. When the cakes come out of the oven, allow them to sit for 10 minutes in the pans and then run a knife around the outside and invert them onto cooling racks to cool completely.
When the cakes come out of the oven, put a cup of hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast them off for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside to let cool.
For the frosting
8 oz (one block) regular cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Nutella
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/4 cups icing sugar (confectioners) I didn't bother sifting
In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in the butter, Nutella, vanilla and cocoa and beat until completely combined and smooth again. Add in icing sugar all at once, turn back on (slowly or you'll have icing sugar everywhere), and gradually turn up to medium/high speed, allowing it to beat for about a minute and a half.
To assemble the cake
Go back and follow the photos above :) Keep this cake in the fridge because of the cheesecake layer and cream cheese frosting. Give it a half an hour or so at room temperature before slicing.
Grab a nice dark coffee and enjoy!
