The Cake Merchant

Little Chocolate Layer Cake with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Nutella Layer Cake

Today, I’m excited to be joining some of my favorite food bloggers to throw a virtual housewarming party for fellow food blogger Ashton. Ashton is the blogger behind Something Swanky, and while I follow her blog regularly, I’ve never met her in person. However, I know that Ashton and I share a love for Nutella, so I wanted to “bring” a chocolate layer cake with Nutella frosting.

Nutella Layer Cake

I wanted an intense chocolate cake to go along with the light and creamy Nutella frosting, so I chose David Lebovitz’s Devil’s Food Cake recipe. The original recipe makes a double layer 9-inch cake, but I halved to it to make a little 5-inch cake.

Nutella Layer Cake

I also split each layer in half to make a 4-layer cake so that I could have a higher frosting to cake ratio. Let’s face it, more frosting is always better, especially if that frosting tastes like Nutella.

Nutella Layer Cake

A 5-inch cake makes baby slices, but really, I have no shame in diving right into a cake this size with a fork. Or face first. Who can find utensils when you’re moving, anyway?

Nutella Layer Cake

Little Chocolate Layer Cake with Nutella Buttercream Frosting
makes one 2 (or 4) layer 5-inch cake (double the recipe for a 2 layer 9-inch cake)
cake recipe adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients

For the Cake:
4 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
3/4 cups cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/4 cup whole or low-fat milk

For the Frosting:
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Directions

For the Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 5″ x 2″ cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, and beat until fully incorporated.
4. In a measuring cup, mix together the coffee (or water) and milk. With the mixer on low, add half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Add the coffee and milk, and then add the remainder of the dry ingredients.
5. Divide the batter between the two cake pans (I used a scale for this) and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

For the Frosting:
1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until light and creamy (about 2-3 minutes).
2. Add the powdered sugar, mix on low until combined, then beat on medium for an additional 2-3 minutes.
3. Add in the Nutella and vanilla, and beat to combine.
4. Add salt to taste, and beat until incorporated.

Assembly:
1. Use a serrated knife to divide each cake layer in half.
2. Place one layer of the cake on an 5-inch cake board. Place a dollop frosting on top, and spread evenly with a palette knife. Place the second layer on top of the first, followed more frosting, and spread evenly. Do the same with the third layer. Place the fourth layer on top and put a generous scoop of frosting on the top of the cake. Spread evenly across the top of the cake. Work your way around the sides until the entire cake is covered with a thin layer of frosting. I find that a turntable is helpful when frosting a layer cake. Let the crumb coat set in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
3. Once the crumb coat has set, spread a thicker layer of frosting on the top and sides of the crumb coat to create a smooth finish. Use the leftover frosting to pipe onto the cake and top with hazelnuts.

Want to see what everyone else is bringing to the party? Be sure to check out the links below!

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Julianne at Beyond Frosting – Pound cake with Champagne Glaze
Kate at Food Babbles – Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cake
Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet – Glazed Vanilla Donut Muffins
Loretta at A Finn in the Kitchen – Caramelized Almond Nougat Mousse Ice-cream
Joanne at Fifteen Spatulas – Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake
Ashley at Kitchen Meets Girl – Blueberry Muffins
Amber at Bluebonnets and Brownies – Lemon Drop Cookies
Dorothy at Crazy for Crust – Reese’s Fudge
Joan at Chocolate Chocolate and more – Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Quiche
Roxana at Roxana’s Home Baking – Banana Sheet Cake
Julie at White Lights on Wednesday – Mocha Cupcake Milkshake
Hayley at The Domestic Rebel – Banana Split Poke Cake
Tanya at Lemons for Lulu – Lemon Muffins
Jocelyn at Inside Brucrew Life – Butterscoth Banana Muffins

Comments

  4. This cake is STUNNING! Oh. Em. Gee. I mean… I am speechless! I want to dig into it RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND!!!! Chocolate and Hazelnut is seriously my favorite flavor. Oh how I wish we were neighbors so I could gobble this up! And thank you so much for being a part of this!! I can’t believe how sweet you all are!!!

    Reply

    • Thanks, Ashton! I wish I could share it with you for real, but I’ll be sure to have a few extra slices on your behalf!

      Reply

  5. This is no ordinary cake, this is so incredible! The cake looks so chocolatey and rich and that frosting is creamy and light! I’m speechless! Beautiful job.

    Reply

  12. Wow. This is one of the most beautiful cakes I’ve ever seen… an elegantly stacked layer cake of insurmountable deliciousness! I love Nutella, and any cake made with dark cocoa, so this combination sounds perfect. It’s been lovely discovering your blog… it’s my first visit courtesy of the virtual housewarming (I love this idea!). Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Reply

  13. You had me at Nutella…then I scrolled down farther and saw the deep dark cake that it was covering and I am in love!!! I want to dive headfirst into that cake and never come out 🙂 It is great to “meet” you for the house warming!!!

    Reply

  16. hi! I love those creamy frosting looks attempting to me…. but I think for me I will get rid of the hazelnut topping it really didn’t give any good in its presentation. sorry but it’s just my opinion. what do you think?

    Reply

  21. I went in search of Nutella cake recipes for my husbands birthday tomorrow and came across yours. This looks like a perfect combination of dark chocolate (my fave) and Nutella (his fave). I will let you know how he likes it. Thank you for posting pics and recipes for your beautiful cakes, truly works of art. 🙂

    Reply

  22. Dear if I also want to make the frosting for the 9 inch cake, should I also double the recipe for the frosting? or is it enough as it is?

    Reply

    • If you plan to make a 4-layer 9-inch cake, I would double the frosting recipe. If you are doing a 2-layer cake, I would make 1.5 times the frosting recipe. You will probably still have some left over to pipe decorations.

      Reply

  23. hi,
    This sounds really good.
    I want to make it but I only have non-fat milk at home. Can I use that instead?
    Any adjustments you would recommend?
    Thank you so much.
    This would be my first cake 🙂

    Reply

  25. I was just wondering, if I double the recipe will that make a 2-layer 9 inch cake or will it only make enough batter to fill one 9-inch cake pan?

    Reply

    • A doubled recipe will make a 2 layer 9-inch cake. You can also make a 1 layer 9 inch cake with this recipe as is.

      Reply

  26. I made this butter cream with Reese’s chocolate peanut butter and it is AMAZING! Thanks for the recipe 🙂

    Reply

  27. Hi,
    I need some guidance.I made this cake yesterday. Though the flavor was yummy and crumb was moist and soft but I dont know why my cake had vertical lines as in when I sliced it, it had vertical lines all across the crumb like cylindrical holes.. so it wasn’t looking presentable though guests liked the taste. Can you suggest what went wrong??

    Reply

    • Holes can be caused by over beating the cake once you add the dry ingredients, or perhaps your oven temp was too hot. Do you have an oven thermometer?

      Reply

  29. Hi,
    I need some guidance.I made this cake yesterday. Though the flavor was yummy and crumb was moist and soft but I dont know why my cake had vertical lines as in when I sliced it, it had vertical lines all across the crumb like cylindrical holes.. so it wasn’t looking presentable though guests liked the taste. Can you suggest what went wrong??

    Reply

  30. I would love to make this cake, but I don’t have 5 inch pans, just 6 inch. Would I be able to use these? Possibly a shorter cooking time?

    Reply

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