Chocolate Cake with Nutella Whipped Cream

Recently, I wanted to make a cake for a birthday that was inspired by the combination of chocolate and Nutella. After doing some poking around online, I landed on a chocolate cake recipe and decided to pair it with a Nutella whipped cream. The combination together was incredible! I also made some crumbled chocolate candies to decorate with, which didn't exactly come out as I expected... but were still serviceable enough :)

The cake itself is now going to be my go-to chocolate cake! A simple recipe that includes coffee to deepen the chocolate flavor, it came out just as moist as promised, and was completely addicting.

The frosting - made just with Nutella, heavy cream, and a touch of sour cream to help stabilize - ended up being REALLY delicious, but a bit of a challenge to frost with! I think I should have chilled the frosting for much longer before applying it, since its softness made it difficult to maintain shape around the cake. I was in a bit of a hurry, though, so soft and fluffy it is!

For the chocolate crumbles, I basically made a wafer, crumbled it, mixed the pieces with some Nutella to form truffles, and dipped those in chocolate. The texture wasn't my favorite, so I won't share the recipe, but I ended up chopping them up and throwing them onto the cake for some added crunch.

Chocolate Cake

adapted from add a pinch

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup hot coffee

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl. Whisk through until combined well.

3. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add the hot coffee to the cake batter until well combined. (The batter will be thin - this is normal!)

4. Distribute the cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. 

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely.

Nutella Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup Nutella

1/4 cup sour cream

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a large chilled bowl. Using a whisk, whip the mixture slowly at first to incorporate the three ingredients together.

2. Once the mixture is smooth, begin to increase the speed of mixing to incorporate more air. Whip until the mixture is fluffy and smooth.

3. Use or chill immediately.

Side note: This cake also freezes quite well! I cut the leftovers into slices, then let them freeze uncovered for about an hour in the fridge before wrapping each slice tightly in plastic wrap. Then, I loaded all of the wrapped slices into a gallon ziploc freezer bag to add another layer of protection against freezer burn or odors. To thaw, I unwrapped the slices, plated them, and left them in the fridge for about 6 hours. (I do like my cake kind of cold, though, so maybe take them out of the fridge for a bit before serving if you prefer room temperature!) Either way - fresh or frozen! - I would definitely recommend this cake :)