As spectacular as it may look, this Nutella Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cake isn’t nearly as complicated to make as you may imagine… but it certainly won’t fail to impress, and please, the chocolate lovers in your life!
So I had this big jar of Nutella in my pantry, and a whole bunch of Ferrero Rocher leftover from my Christmas stash…
What else was I gonna use them for than to make a decadent cake, right? I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anything that sounds much more decadent than Nutella Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cake, all together in the same title!
Sure, I could’ve went ahead and redone the Nutella Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake that I’d already created a bunch months ago, but where’s the fun in that? I wanted to create something entirely new… So I decided to go for a bit of a cross between that fabulous cheesecake, my signature Wicked Windmill Chocolate Cake and my spectacular looking Triple Chocolate Ombre Cake.
Not to tooth my own horn, but I think I succeeded in creating yet another masterpiece!
And although it seems like this cake might be extremely complicated and time consuming to make, seriously, it’s not so bad at all considering how incredibly spectacular the finished cake looks!
I suggest you make it over the course of 2 days: on day one make the Devil’s Food Chocolate Cakes and Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and on day 2 assemble the cake.
It will feel like nothing at all, and you’ll pass for a true baker extraordinaire who spent countless hours slaving in the kitchen to create such a beautiful — and delicious — work of art.
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS & PICTURES
MAKE THE CAKES
Start by making the Devil’s Food Cakes by following the instructions in the post.
Once the cakes have cooled down to room temperature, trim the tops if necessary so they’re nice and flat, wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer until completely frozen.
Cakes are much easier to frost when frozen, and it’s particularly important in this case since we’ll be creating a watercolor, washed down effect with the Buttercream and Nutella. So really. Don’t skip this step: be sure that your cakes are given ample time to freeze all the way through. Best way to go is to make them the previous day!
MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM
Now make the Swiss Meringue Buttercream following the instructions in the post.
When the buttercream is good and ready, transfer about 2 cups of buttercream into a bowl and add about 1-2/3 cup (500g) of Nutella to it.
Stir delicately with a rubber spatula until the two are not quite completely mixed; there should still be plenty of visible streaks in the buttercream.
Now add about 1/3 of a cup (100g) of Nutella to the rest of the buttercream…
…and stir in in the exact same fashion, leaving lots of visible streaks.
FROST THE CAKE
Remove the cakes from the freezer and place one of the cakes flat side up on a piece of cardboard that’s exactly the same size as the cake. While this precaution isn’t absolutely mandatory, it will greatly help support your cake later when you need to transfer it to a cake plate.
Using an offset spatula cover the top of that first cake with a little less than half of the darker buttercream, then repeat with the middle layer…
Be sure to keep just enough of that darker buttercream to cover the third and final cake with a thin layer of it. Then, run your spatula around the side of the cake to push any excess buttercream back into the natural gaps formed between the layers.
Crumb coat the entire cake with a thin layer of the lighter icing…
Then, go back and cover the entire cake with a fairly generous amount of frosting, smoothing the sides and top as best you can. Don’t go overboard with that smoothing thing though, as this cake is going to have a fairly rustic look. Also, be sure to keep about 1 cup of that buttercream to garnish the cake later.
Place the cake in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes, to allow the frosting to set and firm up.
Once the buttercream is cold, use a small offset spatula to spread a few streaks of pure Nutella randomly around the cake…
…then smooth and spread those streaks out with the spatula….
…mixing them in with the buttercream to create a nice washed out, watercolor effect.
Place the cake back in the fridge to set, at least 30 minutes, then transfer it to a cake plate or stand before covering it with the ganache.
TO MAKE THE NUTELLA GANACHE
Combine the finely chopped chocolate, Nutella, whipping cream and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in the microwave for 1 minute, allow the mixture to rest for 1 full minute and then stir delicately for 1 full minute.
At first, your ganache will look like a complete mess and you might think that it’s never going to come together, but trust the process… it will!
Return the ganache to the microwave one more time, cooking, resting and stirring for only 30 seconds this time!
At this point, the ganache should be completely smooth and combined, but if there were still lumps remaining, repeat the process again but for no longer than 20 seconds at a time; continue doing that until the ganache is smooth and silky. It’s imperative that your ganache never becomes hot, it should barely feel warm to the touch.
Reserve about 1/2 cup of that ganache into a small bowl and place it in the freezer, stirring regularly, until it has the consistency of fudgy frosting, about 20 minutes. The above picture shows what your ganache should look like when ready to use.
While that ganache is getting thick in the freezer, take your cake out of the fridge and delicately pour about half of the remaining ganache over its top.
Spread it all the way to the edge, pushing it slightly past the edge to create little drizzles down the sides of the cake.
Repeat the process with the rest of the ganache, but leave a few tablespoons in the bowl to drizzle over the Ferrero Rochers later.
Return the cake to the fridge until the ganache is set.
THE FINISHING TOUCH
As soon as it’s reached the right consistency, take the fudgy nutella ganache out of the freezer and spread it on one side of a pastry bag bag equipped with a medium open star tip) and then fill the bag with the reserved buttercream.
Pipe 12 generous swirls around the top of the cake and 1 in the center…
…and then delicately push a Ferrero Rocher on top of each swirl.
Now prepare a piping cone out of parchment paper and then melt the few tablespoons of ganache you reserved earlier in the microwave – it will only take 3-4 seconds!! Pour it into your parchment paper cone and then drizzle a little bit over each Ferrero Rocher.
Note that you could also use a squeeze bottle instead of the parchment paper cone, but that doesn’t work quite as well when dealing with such small quantities.
And there you have it: your masterpiece is now ready to be served and impress your friends and family members!
Keep your finished cake in the refrigerator but be sure to take it out at least 3 hours prior to serving, to allow for the buttercream to get back to room temperature.
Ingredients
- 1- Devil's Food Cake Recipe
- 1 swiss meringue buttercream recipe
- 2 cups (600g | 21oz) Nutella, divided, plus a little more for the streaks
- 1-1/4 cup (175g | 6.2oz) semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup (150g | 5.3oz) Nutella
- 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream
- 1-1/2 tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup Nutella ganache (reserved from above)
- 3/4 cup buttercream (reserved from above)
- 13 Ferrero Rocher
- 2-3 tbsp melted Nutella ganache (reserved from above)
Instructions
- Make the Devil's Food Cakes and following the instructions in the post.
- Once the cakes have cooled down to room temperature, trim the tops if necessary so they're nice and flat, wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer until completely frozen.
- Make the Swiss Meringue Buttercream following the instructions in the post.
- Transfer about 2 cups of buttercream into a bowl and add about 1-2/3 cup (500g) of Nutella to it. Stir delicately with a rubber spatula until not quite completely mixed; there should still be plenty of visible streaks in the buttercream.
- Add about 1/3 of a cup (100g) of Nutella to the rest of the buttercream and stir in in the same fashion, leaving lots of visible streaks.
- Remove the cakes from the freezer and place one of the cakes flat side up on a piece of cardboard that's exactly the same size as the cake. While this precaution isn't absolutely mandatory, it will greatly help support your cake later when you need to transfer it to a cake plate.
- Using an offset spatula cover the top of that cake with a little less than half the darker buttercream, then repeat with the middle layer, keeping just enough buttercream to cover the final cake with a thin layer. Run your spatula around the side of the cake to push any excess buttercream back into the gaps formed by the layers.
- Crumb coat the entire cake with a thin layer of the lighter icing, then, go back and cover the entire cake with a fairly generous amount of frosting, smoothing the sides and top as best you can. Be sure to keep about 1 cup of that buttercream to garnish the cake later.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes, to allow the frosting to set and firm up.
- Once the buttercream is cold, use a small offset spatula to spread a few streaks of pure Nutella randomly around the cake, then smooth and spread those streaks out with the spatula, mixing them in with the buttercream to create a nice washed out effect.
- Place the cake back in the fridge to set, at least 30 minutes, then transfer it to a cake plate or stand before covering it with the ganache.
- Combine the finely chopped chocolate, Nutella, whipping cream and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in the microwave for 1 minute, allow the mixture to rest for 1 full minute and then stir delicately for 1 full minute. Repeat the process one more time, cooking, resting and stirring for 30 seconds this time. At this point, the ganache should be completely smooth and combined, but if there were still lumps remaining, repeat the process again but for no longer than 20 seconds at a time; continue doing that until the ganache is smooth and silky. It's imperative that your ganache never becomes hot, it should barely feel warm to the touch.
- Reserve about 1/2 cup of that ganache into a small bowl and place it in the freezer, stirring regularly, until it has the consistency of fudgy frosting, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, take your cake out of the fridge and delicately pour about half of the remaining ganache over its top. Spread it all the way to the edge, pushing it slightly past the edge to create little drizzles down the sides of the cake. Repeat the process with the rest of the ganache, but leave a few tablespoons in the bowl to drizzle over the Ferrero Rochers later.
- Return the cake to the fridge until the ganache is set.
- Take the fudgy nutella ganache out of the freezer and spread it on one side of a pastry bag bag equipped with a medium open star tip) and then fill the bag with the reserved buttercream. Pipe 12 generous swirls around the top of the cake and 1 in the center, then delicately push a Ferrero Rocher on top of each swirl.
- Prepare a piping cone out of parchment paper and then melt the few tablespoons of ganache you reserved earlier in the microwave - it will only take 3-4 seconds!! Pour it into your parchment paper cone and then drizzle a little bit over each Ferrero Rocher. Note that you could also use a squeeze bottle instead of the parchment paper cone, but that doesn’t work quite as well when dealing with such small quantities.
- Keep your finished cake in the refrigerator but be sure to take it out at least 3 hours prior to serving.
My Evil Twin is passionate about food and has a real sweet spot for the indulgent kind...
Yay to another decadent cake! I feel you took even more pictures than ever, thanks for all the detailed instructions, will have to try this beauty!
Yay, can’t wait to try another decadent cake from you! I miss you and your posts, and can’t wait until the next one! Thanks so much!
Awwww, thank you Janet, that is so sweet of you to say. Easter is just around the corner, I’ll no doubt have to come up with something for the occasion! 😉
You are welcome, you go to so much work in your recipes, videos, pictures, just everything, I just wanted you to know that you are appreciated!
You’re a true gem, Janet. Thank you SO MUCH for this! Sure feels good to know! 🙂
I truly mean it, I look forward to any of your posts so much, you are the gem!
Made this cake with friends yesterday and it looked fabulous! Absolutely gorgeous and surprisingly easy to make. The devil’s food cake was very tasty and the recipe a keeper. The buttercream and ganache were waaaaay too sweet for my liking. Especially with the nutella in it, it was like a punch in the mouth with sugar. Everyone that I served the cake too scraped and discarded it off their piece because they could t hea ele the sweetness:(
How much less sugar would one get away with without hurting the structure of the buttercream? Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Sorry to hear this was too sweet for your liking, Fran… but Nutella being incredibly sweet by nature, I think it would be kinda hard to have it any other way! 😉
@Fran – Try using 1-1/2 cups sugar instead of the full amount in the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe, and add less Nutella to the frosting – just enough to add a mottled effect. I also omitted adding the extra Nutella to the frosted cake.
I’m usually guilty of finding a recipe that looks good and making changes to it before I’ve even tried the original, but I followed this one almost to a T (used cream cheese icing instead of meringue icing, as was in a bit of a rush and wanted to do an icing i was familiar with.
The devil’s food cake recipe is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made and I will always use this going forward.
I still have to do the final step of the cake with topping it with the ganache, but the steps for icing the cake were really helpful and my cake looks so great, and it really wasn’t difficult… i know this cake is going to be a frequent request once people see it tonight…
First time reader of this blog, but I will be back 🙂
I attempted this cake as my first ever ‘proper’ layered cake, following step by step, and I couldn’t fault it. Everyone raved about how delicious it was, and went in for seconds!! Even though I heated by ganache for a little longer, the cake and frosting were still divine! First time I’ve ever done a frosting outside of what I’m used to and it fit perfectly with the cake. I’m wanting to adapt this recipe to make a snickers cake this weekend, I think it’s do-able with adding some different flavours into the meringue buttercream frosting – but would love to know your thoughts!
Thanks for making a very easy to follow recipe, the pictures and notes on consistency made it a lot easier to know what to expect, and I can’t wait to become more confident with this recipe! Thank you so much!
Thank YOU so much for your amazing feedback, Mary! Real happy to hear that the cake was a success! Hope your snickers version turns out just as great! 🙂
Ferrero rocher is my favourite Chocolate.
Try using 1-1/2 cups sugar to make the Swiss meringue buttercream. I cut down the sugar that way and added less Nutella to the buttercream.
I plan on attempting this next week for someone’s birthday. Had a question.. how would you recommend I transport this cake….with all the toppings done ?? And transfer thos with a cake lifter into a box?
How tall is this cake?
I always transport my cakes in cake boxes… they’re fairly inexpensive, can be used several times and are by far the best option as they are made specifically for this… Or, you could use a plastic cake carrier / storage container such as this one https://amzn.to/2SspqsC
It is too tall for a cake container, I used toothpicks and Saranwrap.
how long can this cake be kept in the fridge for after being baked and iced?
I made this Cale for my boyfriends mothers birthday since she loves Ferrero Rocher and we are stuck in quarantine. We have tried it yet but I know it will be amazing.
I followed the recipe exactly except for the chocolate cake which I used another recipe that Ived made before.
It was a bit difficult for a new baker…
I had trouble with the butter cream.. once I mixed it with the Nutella for a marble look the icing began to curdle so I decide to just mix it well and it became a light brown and still tasted amazing
And lastly the decorating part was a bit difficult but after a few tries it looked pretty awesome
Thank you so much for this recipe
Hello! Is the moist chocolate cake and devil’s food almost the same? Ia it ok to use chocolate moist cake?
It should be fine, Maria!
This looks amazing! Can I use fresh cream instead of buttercream? Thanks
I’m afraid not… you need to use buttercream.
Can this be kept out at room temperature for a whole day?
Absolutely! So long as it’s not overly hot…
Hi, I’m in the middle of making this cake and I’m confused. Regarding the first buttercream, you said to add 1/3 cup or 100 grams to the remaining buttercream. But when making the ganache, you said 1/3 cup or 150 grams Nutella. I’m not sure which one you should use. It’s possible I have misunderstood, could you please clarify. Thanks.