Ferrero Rocher Cake

Sometimes my job as a baker is not necessarily as fun as people might think. Imagine making three exactly same cakes in a week. Or packing hundreds of macarons or cupcakes for a wedding. Being said that, I still love my job. Because I genuinely believe repetitiveness is part of every job! And no job is more repetitive as being a mother. So I think being a baker has given me some sort of balance on a daily basis. And I am thankful for that!

I would’ve never thought about incorporating Ferrero Rocher into a cake if not for a new client’s order. And I think the reason why I wouldn’t is because I am never a big fan of Ferrero Rocher despite the fact that I love both hazelnuts and chocolate. Right. I can’t explain that!

This cake was more based on those two major ingredients, hazelnuts and chocolate. And it’s natural to match chocolate devil’s food cake with Nutella buttercream. A little sprinkle of chopped Ferrero Rocher and hazelnuts between the cake layers gave this cake the very essence that it needed – a Ferrero Rocher cake. Don’t you already feel a little excited about Christmas looking at the cake top decoration?!

Ingredients (8-inch 3-layer cake):
Chocolate Devil’s Food Layer Cake
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Nutella Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup Nutella
4 sticks unsalted butter, soften
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Others
4 pieces Ferrero Rocher, roughly chopped
6 pieces Ferrero Rocher
2 cups hazelnut, lightly toasted and roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, whisk the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth.
Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla extract.
Reduce the speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the chocolate mixture. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining chocolate mixture. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated.
Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Place the cakes (in the pans) on a wire rack to cool. Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack. Cool completely before frosting.
To prepare the frosting, in a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, beat Nutella and butter for a few minutes on medium speed. Add cocoa powder and powdered sugar and beat until incorporated and you get to the right consistency.
To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread with 1/3 cup frosting. Sprinkle half of the chopped Ferrero Rocher and 1 tablespoon of chopped hazelnut. Place another cake layer on top, and gently press down a little bit. Spread with another 1/3 cup frosting, and sprinkle the same amount of Ferrero Rocher and hazelnut. Place the last layer of cake on top, smear frosting on the top and sides of the cake.
Gently press the hazelnuts into the sides of the cake.
Using a large star tip to pipe a decorative border with the frosting on the top edge of the cake. Place whole Ferrero Rocher on top, and sprinkle some more hazelnuts.
Cover and refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator an hour before serving.

30 comments

  1. Hello, when you say 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted… does it mean I sift it first then measure, or do I measure 2 cups then sift it?
    It tends to confuse me a bit…

    The cake looks amazing, I want to try it out for a friend’s birthday!!

    1. Hi Mary, you can easily make cake flour substitute with all purpose flour. Just replace 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour with cornstarch in every cup of all purpose flour. Hope it helps. :)

  2. Thanks dear
    I’m really love your rices
    I will try agine after two day
    Actually I try to make a buttermilk by add one tablespoon of vinegar to one cup of warm whole milk but I think it doesn’t works!
    But it’s really good .. My husband and my doughter love it

  3. Hello .. I’m trying to do it,

    By the way what can I do with buttermilk?
    I think in my cuntry its to hard to find it

    Thanks

    1. Hi Duaa, you can actually make your own buttermilk. Mix one tablespoon of lemon juice in one cup of milk, stir and let it set for 5 minutes, and it becomes one cup of buttermilk. Hope you enjoy the recipe. :)

  4. I’m doing this cake next week and for sure I’ll post a picture and let you know the results
    Thank you for sharing

  5. I made this cake for my daughters birthday today as she had requested a farrero rocher cake. It was very nice.

  6. Hi Cheryl, I just did! I just made one for our new year’s eve dinner tomorrow. I didn’t get to eat the cake yet, but I had a chance to taste the leftover. I literally sandwiched the buttercream with the cake pieces I cut out from my doomed cake. And OH MY GOD!! I could not stop snacking on it. It’s so good!! I didn’t decorate the cake as Fanny did with the hazelnuts on the sides of the cake though because I didn’t have the patience. LOL!!! But I am pretty sure the cake is going to taste awesome. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Fanny! Happy new year!

  7. I think I could have a slice or two or three or four………NOW!!!!!!! It looks too good!

  8. This looks amazing. I love these chocolate hazelnut candies. I would love to make this cake, however I am not the best when it comes to making my own frosting. I have a hard time incorporating the powder sugar and making it fluffy without the grainy texture of the powder sugar. Do you have any advice on what I can or should be doing?

    Thanks!!!

    1. Thanks, Jennifer! I’ve started to whip my butter and powdered sugar in a longer period of time than normal. Sometimes it will go longer than 5 minutes to create the fluffiness! Hope it helps.

  9. Can I marry the cake??? :) Such a beauty, and I am not a chocolate person, love Ferrero Rocher. Oh Fanny I think you may have been doing a lot of spoon tasting!! xo :)

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