Recipe: Chocolate Cake with Raspberry-Nutella Filling and Chocolate Ganache

Skinny jeans make me crave chocolate cake.

Umm.  Weird.  Why would I say that?

(you can back away slowly now.  no sudden movements. who knows what I might do.)



OH! Ha. Not wearing skinny jeans.  No no no.  I don't do that.

Mostly because wearing skinny jeans makes me crave broccoli.

And no one wants a broccoli-craving skinny jean-wearing girl at their party.  True story.



But seeing skinny jeans. On other people.  On a whole subculture of people.  That's another story.

As soon as I stepped on the L train to take me to Williamsburg (Brooklyn) this weekend (to go to an uber fab party hosted by Gojee!), a.k.a. "the land of hipsters".  There they were.  En masse.

Men.  Women.  Children.  Small dogs.  Someone's great grandmother.

All in skinny jeans.

Then there was me in my summer dress.  Empire waist, baby.  REPRESENT. 

(Bull.In.A.China.Shop.)



Maybe it's the Italian mother in me, but I just wanted to sit that whole subway car down with a large hunk of deep dark chocolate layer cake and force them to eat it.  Matilda-style.

(It might also be my inner sadist who wanted to see all of their jeans buttons burst at the same time.  Hmm.)

Instead, I did the next best thing.

I made one for my roommate's birthday. And my friends and I ate it.





I may not be able to stop the entire hipster community of Williamsburg (a.k.a. the entire population of Williamsburg) from wearing skinny jeans.  But I can sure as hell keep them away from everyone I associate with on a daily basis.

Otherwise I might have to start to think about fitting into mine.  And like I said before.

Broccoli, people.  Nobody wants that.



Unlike Anu's cake last year, which was almost too intense to eat, this was delicious and rich without being overly so.  The cake was light and chocolatey with the real decadence being in the filling and ganache.  And then, of course, there's the Nutella.  Need I say more? 

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry-Nutella Filling and Chocolate Ganache
Makes 1 9-inch, 4 layer cake, adapted from Sugar Plum

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup dark, unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk or regular milk
• 2 cups Nutella, warmed slightly
• 1 cup raspberry preserves, warmed slightly
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat egg whites (reserving the yolks) until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, with the mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, and melted chocolate until combined.  Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually mix in flour, alternating with  milk, until just combined, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Fold in egg whites in three additions, until combined.
5. Divide batter into cake pans.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake pulls away from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted comes out with moist cake crumbs.  Cool for 12 minutes on wire racks in the pan.  Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto wire rack to cool completely.
6. Split each cake in half (I used the dental floss method).  Spread a layer of Nutella and raspberry preserves on each cake layer, assembling the cake as you go.
7. To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.  When it comes to a simmer, turn the heat off and whisk in the 8 oz chocolate chips until melted and smooth.  Cool until it's a good consistency and then pour and spread over the cake.  Top with hazelnuts.

I am submitting this to Bake with Bizzy!