Nutella Layer Cake

For the past few years, my mom has been organizing birthday parties for the people who work at her office. And it used to be that when I was home from school, I would make the cake. But now that I am home all the time, I have been making them all. I love doing it because I have twenty adoring fans at the church, almost all of which are over 60 years old, so they never have anything bad to say.

So, just recently there was a big surprise birthday party for the finance manager. My mom had the idea of making a Nutella cake, so I went for it.

I made a Devil's Food cake from a box mix. I love box mixes (but only if they are Duncan Hines). My view is why mix they dry ingredients when they are already perfectly mixed for you. A lot of times I will doctor them up a lot, but this time, I just followed the instructions on the box.

Then, I found THIS Nutella Buttercream and knew that it must be made. I made a few adjustments and doubled the recipe because I sliced each of my layers in half to get a 4 layer cake. I ended up having some extra, but I just spread it on the last slices of last weeks Chocolate Bundt Cake (perfect on there too).

Also, I threw in some mini chocolate chips to half of the frosting so there would be chips in the filling. 

In general, this cake was SO good. I couldn't have been more happy with how it came out. Next time, I would skip the chips and do a dark chocolate ganache pour over the whole thing.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Yield: enough buttercream to frost 24 cupcakes or 1 8" or 9"cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce jar of Nutella
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
8oz Mini Chocolate Chips (Optional)

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and Nutella until well combined, thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add salt and vanilla. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, alternating with the heavy cream and continue mixing until well blended until you get the desired consistency. Then if you want, toss in the chips and mix well.