Chocolate Ferrero Rocher Cake with Nutella Ganache

“Why do you always bake cupcakes?” grumbled A the other day, when I told him about plans for a fourth batch of cupcakes. I had been obsessing over them for the past week - I was thinking of vanilla with a chocolate filling and crunchy chocolate frosting, but no matter how I thought about it, somehow it didn’t sound aesthetically pleasing (it’d look too much like a white cupcake with a big brown turd sitting on top).

A was right. It was time to diversify my baking repertoire. Fuck the diet, and fuck aesthetics, I thought, this time I’m going to go the whole hog and create the most awesome chocolate creation that would bring any chocolate fan to her knees. And what better ingredients to use in the creation of this weapon of mass destruction than everyone’s favourite chocolate-hazelnut snacks, Ferrero Rocher and Nutella?

From L to R: the cake, smugly basking in the glow of its chocolate perfection; and a close-up of its cross-section.

After much research, I decided on a recipe culled from blogs, the New York Times and Food Network for this sinful treat. It’s basically a layer cake with a milk chocolate and Ferrero Rocher filling, covered with a blend of Nutella and cream. It’s a wee bit mafan (troublesome in Mandarin) but if you have about two to three hours to spare and want to create something delicious for dessert or teatime, then this is it.

This cake gets quite hard when it’s chilled, and it’s at its best when it’s at (Singaporean) room temperature. That’s when the chocolate from both the frosting and the filling is so gooey, it’s like drinking from the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A was a veritable Augustus Gloop when he tried it. He took a bite, and his eyebrows shot up into his auburn hair. “It’s amazing!” he declared, before vacuuming up every single crumb of the cake.

Recipe after the jump!

Some notes:

- For the cake batter, I decided to use the recipe from the red velvet cupcakes because I wanted a lovely thick yet spongy density to balance out the rich chocolate. I think I’ll use this recipe as my basic one any time I make cupcakes or cakes. You can tell you’ve got a good cake when its surface is springy even after cooling.

- One easy way to crush Ferrero Rochers is to do them while they’re in their gold foil wrappers. Peel off the brown cupcake liner, lightly smash the chocolate in its foil, roll it around a hard surface, then open it up and dump the crushed bits into your mixture!

Chocolate Ferrero Rocher Cake with Nutella Ganache
Cake
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups softened butter
2¼ cups granulated sugar
4 Singapore-sized large eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar.

Milk chocolate and Ferrero Rocher filling
15 Ferrero Rochers, crushed
200g Lindt milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder
2/3 cup heavy cream

Nutella Ganache
1 cup Nutella
1 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line two round 22cm-diameter layer cake pans with a baking sheet or aluminium foil.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until light, fluffy and pale. Beat in eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment, and cool.

6. Meanwhile, start on the milk chocolate and Ferrero Rocher filling. Place the Lindt chocolate in a medium bowl with the sifted cocoa powder. In a small saucepan bring the cream to a boil. Once it starts bubbling, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and gently whisk until smooth. Allow the mixture to cool, and add the crushed Ferrero Rochers.

7. Next, start on the Nutella ganache. Melt the Nutella and cream over low heat, stirring constantly, until smoothly blended. Let it cool.

8. Spread the milk chocolate and Ferrero Rocher filling over one layer, then put other layer on top. Frost the top and sides with the Nutella ganache, then stand back, and marvel at your heavenly chocolate and hazelnut creation.