This is a cake worthy of any celebration or simply a family gathering. Four layers of delicious and moist cake, alternating between rich chocolate cake and tender hazelnut cake, filled with amazing white chocolate hazelnut ganache filling and coated in silky vanilla buttercream. It's a dream come true!
Can you hear the music yet? I don't know about you, but I just instantly start singing Winter Wonderland the moment I see this cake. "Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening..." Aah, winter is here. If only there was some real snow to accompany those feels. But I guess buttercream snow will have to do the trick. 🙂
So, about this gorgeous looking Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (if I may say so myself). Can you see all those beautiful layers? Seriously, one is better than the other. I can't choose. I can't! They all just go so well together. You know I usually make a three-layer cake, but I really wanted this one to be two-toned so I had to make four layers. Also, how can more cake be bad, right? I used this chocolate cake recipe but changed the serving to 8, instead of 12 to get the right amount for two layers. I love that feature in my recipes, no need for calculating anything yourself (and inevitably screwing something up, LOL).
How to bring the best possible hazelnut flavour?
I'll tell you how. HAZELNUT BUTTER.
That thing is so delicious, it's addictive. But it gives the most beautiful flavour there is.
You can probably buy it in some kind of a health food shop, but making your own is 10 times better and also - VERY EASY.
All you need to make hazelnut butter are toasted and skinned hazelnuts. I know, it's that simple. No, I'm not kidding you. 😉
Only one ingredient - with a little bit of help in the form of a food processor. 🙂
I made my life easier and bought pretoasted and chopped hazelnuts which I know are of great quality. You know they're good when you open the bag and that gorgeous smell just hits you. Mmm, aaah-mazing.
Once you're done toasting and skinning your hazelnuts - that bit is kind of pain in the ass, but it's worth it - just toss them right in your food processor, but make sure they are cold. You don't want to ruin your sharp blades. 🙂
Using a pulse option (so your food processor won't overheat), blitz them for 4-5 minutes until they turn to liquid state.
It'll be a consistency of a organic peanut butter, liquidy and natural. DO NOT add any water to it if you feel like it's taking too long.
Water WILL mess up everything because nuts are essentially fat and they are frenemies, as we already learnt that in some of my previous recipes. 😉
When your hazelnut butter is done, transfer it to a clean glass jar and keep it on room temperature until using it.
It's great for your oatmeal in the morning as well, or making a homemade nutella! Yum!
I incorporated it both in the cake layers and in the white chocolate ganache filling. That filling is TO DIE FOR. Have you ever had a Kinder Bueno candy bar? Well, it tastes exactly like that.
I won't bother you with the deets more, the recipe is down below. Please don't freak out when you see how lenghty it is - it's really not hard, I just wanted to make sure that you have the best possible information for making this cake.
And you have to make it, every chocoholic in your family will thank you for it, trust me! 😉
On the side note... I wish you all the best for the upcoming holidays. May your home and heart be filled with love, joy, laughter and peace. Take a breath and slow down in this fast-paced world full of stress. Enjoy the little moments - let the kids bake the cookies even if they don't look perfect afterwards, eat cake for breakfast, get a good night sleep and watch that movie you love. Take care of yourself, because if you won't - no one else will do it for you. And don't let anyone take away your peace and joy. You deserve all of it.
Sending lots of love,
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Hazelnut Winter Wonderland Cake
Description
ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 75 g vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
- 130 g full fat sour cream (room temperature)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 115 g all-purpose flour
- 50 g dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 150 g white granulated sugar
- 45 g brown cane sugar
- 75 g hot water
Hazelnut Cake
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 160 g all-purpose flour
- 100 g brown cane sugar
- 60 g white granulated sugar
- 80 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 70 g hazelnut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 140 g sour cream (room temperature)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Hazelnut White Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 300 g white chocolate ((min. 28% cocoa solids))
- 100 g hazelnut butter
- 200 g heavy whipping cream (min. 36% fat)
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 100 g dark chocolate ((min. 50%))
- 100 g heavy whipping cream
Vanilla Buttercream
- 30 g all-purpose flour
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 250 g whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 225 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Hazelnut Butter
- Using a food processor, blitz chopped, roasted and skinned hazelnuts for approx. 5 minutes until you get a nut butter of liquid consistency. Kind of like organic peanut butter. Do not add any water. Make sure you have a good quality, sharp food processor, otherwise it might take you a lot longer or it may never get to liquid state. Keep it in a jar until using. It needs to be room temperature.
For Chcolate Cake layers:
- Preheat your fan oven to 160°C (325°F) or 175°C (350°F) if you're not using a fan oven. Grease and line with parchment paper two 6" round cake tins. Alternatively, you can use two 7" cake tins but the layers will be somewhat thinner.
- In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add sugars, whisk until combined and set aside.
- In a small bowl or a measuring jug, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla extract. These are your wet ingredients.
- In a small pot, bring your water to a boil or simmer, it's important that it's hot. Add the wet ingredients to dry ones, stir a little bit, it'll be somewhat dry. Then add the boiling water and whisk until combined. I usually add the water in two stages to minimize clumps forming.
- Divide the batter evenly in two tins and bake for 23-25 minutes or until skewer inserted in the middle comes out with few moist crumbs. Do not overbake it.
- Once they're done, let the cakes cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before removing them from the pans to cool completely.
For Hazelnut Cake layers:
- Preheat your fan oven to 160°C (325°F) or 175°C (350°F) if you're not using a fan oven. Grease and line with parchment paper two 6" round cake tins. Alternatively, you can use two 7" cake tins but the layers will be somewhat thinner.
- In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined and set aside.
- In a measuring jug combine sour cream and vanilla extract. These are your wet ingredients.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, hazelnut butter and sugars on a medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. (approx. 3 min) Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to medium-low speed and add eggs one at a time - making sure it's fully incorporated after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl
- Add your dry and wet ingredients, alternating between one another, starting and finishing with dry ones. (3 additions of dry and 2 of wet ingredients)
- Divide the batter evenly among the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until skewer inserted in the middle comes out with few moist crumbs.
- Once they're done, let the cakes cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before removing them from the pans to cool completely.
Hazelnut White Chocolate Ganache Filling:
- Place hazelnut butter and finely chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Bring heavy cream just barely to a simmer and pour over chopped chocolate. Cover it with a plate and leave it 1-2 minutes. Stir with a spatula until combined and smooth. Alternatively, you can do this in a microwave in 30 sec intervals.
- Cover it with cling film touching the surface and leave it overnight to cool and thicken. It should be a spreadable consistency. Just before using it, whip it with a hand mixer for a couple of minutes, until paler in colour and fluffy.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling:
- Place finely chopped chocolate in a bowl. Bring heavy cream just barely to a simmer and pour over chopped chocolate. Cover it with a plate and leave it 1-2 minutes. Stir with a spatula until combined and smooth.
- Cover with cling film and leave it overnight or put it in a fridge for an hour until it thickens to spreadable consistency. When you’re ready to assemble the cake, whip it up using a hand mixer for a couple of minutes until paler in colour and fluffy.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- In a small saucepan combine flour, sugar, salt and milk. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until it thickens.
- Once it's done, put a cling film over it touching the surface to prevent "skin" forming and let it cool to room temperature. This is your pudding base. You can do this in a fridge, but before using it let it come to room temperature.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 5 minutes until it's pale and fluffy. Then add spoonful by spoonful of previously made pudding. Mix until it's all nicely incorporated and with no lumps. Add vanilla extract mix until everything is combined.
Assembly:
- Using a cake leveler or a long serrated knife level the tops of your cakes if needed.
- In the middle of your cake board or a serving plate put some buttercream to stop the cake from moving around.
- Place the first chocolate cake layer on a cake board or a serving plate. Using a small offset palette knife spread the white chocolate hazelnut filling over the cake. Top it with the hazelnut cake layer and repeat the process, only this time with dark chocolate ganache filling. Place your second chocolate cake layer on top, spread it with white chocolate hazelnut filling.
- Place final (hazelnut) layer on top, upside down, and do a thin crumb coat on the cake with white chocolate ganache. Chill for 20-30 minutes in the fridge before final decorating.
- Once cooled, frost and smooth the sides with vanilla buttercream. Using the back of your small offset palette knife, dab around to make snowy effect. Or do whatever design you wish for!
- For instructions on how to make white chocolate drip, check out this recipe! 🙂
Notes
- If you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer.
- Not all ovens are the same. I suggest to check the cakes at 20 min mark and then adjust the baking time accordingly. Get to know your oven!
- If you still don't own one, I advise you to buy a kitchen scale - they're cheap and easy to use, and always guarantee the same results in baking!
- Cake is best eaten at room temperature. You can keep it in a fridge, wrapped in cling film, but take it out of it at least half an hour before serving.
IMPORTANT
All the recipes are developed and tested using only metric measurements and a kitchen scale. The U.S. cup and spoon measurements are provided for your convenience, but I highly recommend getting a digital kitchen scale and measuring in metrics. It's easy and always guarantee the same results in baking!
The nutritional information and US conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or unit conversion tool.
If you tried this recipe, make sure to let me know by tagging me on Instagram @anasbakingchronicles or tell me all about it in the comment section down below. I love seeing your creations! x
Jennifer Ju says
Hi! Do you know if it would be possible to use Nutella or Hazlenut Paste instead of having to make our own?
Ana Zelić says
Hi! At the time there wasn't hazelnut butter available here, but I don't see why you couldn't use store bought 🙂 As for Nutella, I didn't try it, but it might make the filling too sweet, considering white chocolate is already quite sweet. But if you try it and it turns out good, do let me know! 🙂
Rhonda Wineinger says
I'm planning on making this for a family bday party--all 5 of us have summer birthdays. What to you mean by
'brown cane sugar'; just brown sugar that is made from sugar cane and not beets, or a granulated, raw sugar like Sugar in the Raw?
Ana Zelić says
Hi, Rhonda!
Actually, I was puzzled by the name on the packaging too, but I didn't have many insights on all the types of brown sugar then because we only had one or two. The one mentioned was most likely raw sugar, but since then I've made the cake successfully with light soft brown sugar, too.
Hope this helps and happy birthday(s)! 🙂
Rhonda says
Thank you, Ana! One other question--I plan to take the cake components, then assemble once I arrive.
Question--should I refrigerate the ganache and the buttercream icing, then let them come to room temp before assembling the cake? I wasn't sure if refrigerating would interfere with the needed consistency of the ganache and frosting. It's wonderful to have access to someone who knows this recipe better than I do!
Ana Zelić says
Hi Rhonda, so sorry I haven't seen your reply earlier. 🙁
I almost always make cakes the day before, double wrap them in cling film and place in the fridge. I also make the pudding base the night before, and then whip up the buttercream in the morning, just before assembling the cake. You CAN make the frosting ahead of time and place it in the fridge, but being butter based, it will stiffen quite a bit, so you'll need to let it come to room temperature and then rewhip it to give it back the fluffiness.
I don't know how far away you're going, it would probably be the best to whip up the buttercream the day of departing, so it's fresh and room temperature (21C).
As for the ganaches, they will stiffen up quite a bit in the fridge, so it's best to leave them on the counter overnight to get to spreadable consistency which will then be great for assembling.
I hope this helps!
Lorraine Vang says
Hi what if you want to use 9in round pan or a bigger size pan? Can you help me with how much ingredients I will need? I’d love to bake this for my birthday next week!
Ana Zelić says
Hi Lorraine,
the easiest way to determine how much ingredients you need is to divide the circumference of the pan you want to use with the circumference of the pan recipe calls for. In this case that would be 4,5x4,5x3,14 / 3x3x3,14 = 2,25. Which means you need to multiply everything with 2,25. However, you'll get a massive cake that feeds around 35 people. For a 10inch cake you need to multiply the ingredients with 2,78.
Sometimes, for easier math, I always count 8inch as double the 6inch and 10inch as triple the 6inch. You get slightly taller cakes, but that's fine as long as your tins are at least 2inch tall.
Good luck, hope this helps! 🙂
Lorraine Vang says
Awesome and thank you so much!
Ana Zelić says
I've also mixed up names, it's not the circumference that matters, but the surface! Math is still good, though! 🙂
Judy Priest says
Are those meringues on top of the cake? If so do you have instructions for them?
Ana Zelić says
Hi Judy,
yes, those are meringue kisses. I have instructions for them under this recipe, I'll make sure to update this post in the future!
Ana x