Chocolate and hazelnut is one of my favorite baking flavor combinations, and this Ferrero Rocher-inspired chocolate hazelnut cake has become one of my new favorite recipes. It’s from the latest addition to my cookbook shelf, Dolci! by Renato Poliafito. I’ve been a fan of his since his Baked cookbooks, and it was lovely to see a new book from him celebrating his heritage and his love of American, Italian, and Italian-American baking. There are tons of lovely stories and photos that describe the inspiration behind many of his recipes, a collection of updated classic Italian desserts and some inspired mashups between Italian and American baked goods. There’s so many desserts I’m eager to try, but this chocolate hazelnut cake captured my eye and I had to make it first.
The Cake
The cake is composed of two chocolate cake layers, a chocolate hazelnut ganache filling, and a silky chocolate buttercream. I adore the chocolate cake – it’s similar to many intensely chocolatey cake recipes like devil’s food cake or even the famous Brooklyn Blackout cake, thanks to the use of oil and buttermilk in the recipe. The batter comes together easily and bakes into a cake that’s both moist and light, and holds up very well under assembly and frosting.
The Filling
The ganache is what makes this cake reminiscent of those Ferrero Rocher candies – it’s milk chocolate and cream mixed with chopped toasted hazelnuts. Chop the hazelnuts well but not too finely, so you can get the crunch of the nuts just like in the candies, but they’re not too large to be distracting to eat. The cookbook recommends Valrhona Azélia chocolate, which actually is a milk chocolate blended with hazelnuts. If you can’t find it, your favorite regular baking milk chocolate will do. I felt like the chopped hazelnuts added plenty of hazelnut flavor but if you’re looking for even more, I might consider mixing in something like this hazelnut praline paste.
The Buttercream
The recipe includes a chocolate Italian meringue buttercream for frosting the cake, but I chose to go with my standby Swiss meringue buttercream. Italian and Swiss meringue buttercream are very similar – both use sugar and egg whites to make a fluffy meringue that is then mixed with butter to create a smooth, rich frosting. For Italian meringue buttercream, you cook the sugar into a syrup first and then beat it into the egg whites. With Swiss meringue buttercream, you heat the sugar and egg whites together until they are combined and thick, then whip them into a meringue. There are advantages to both styles – Italian buttercream can be considered more stable and fluffy than Swiss buttercream. However, I often use Swiss buttercream as my standby because I don’t have to worry about cooking sugar.
Both buttercreams are worth making and mastering – with the addition of chocolate (the book recommends Valrhona Caraïbe, I would look for any dark chocolate at least 66%), you get a beautifully rich, creamy buttercream that is also light and complements the cake perfectly. It’s truly lick-the-spoon good. Don’t forget the Frangelico if you really want to emphasize the chocolate-hazelnut combo – one of my favorites, by the way.
This cake is absolutely special-occasion worthy, but don’t let that stop you from making it whenever you need a chocolate fix. It’ll satisfy the craving and then some.
Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups (285 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (95 g) natural cocoa powder
- 2 tsp (12 g) baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp (160 g) canola oil
- 2 1/4 cups (450 g) sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups (575 g) buttermilk
Hazelnut Ganache
- 8 oz (225 g) milk chocolate, approx 33% chopped
- 2/3 cup (155 g) heavy cream
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cup (200 g) toasted hazelnuts finely chopped
Chocolate Swiss Buttercream
- 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- 9 oz (255 g) unsalted butter room temperature, cut into 1-in pieces
- 3 1/2 oz (100 g) dark chocolate, approx 66% melted and cooled
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Frangelico
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8" round x3" high cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.
- Combine oil and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed until combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine after each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
- Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk in five additions, starting and ending with the flour. Beat after each addition just to combine.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, rotating halfway. The cakes should be set and a skewer inserted in the center should come out with a few crumbs on it.
- Let cool on wire racks for about 30 minutes, then unmold from the pans and let finish cooling while you make the ganache.
For the ganache:
- Place milk chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.
- Combine cream, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat on the stove.
- Pour the hot cream mixture over the milk chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate is fully melted and mixture is smooth.
- Stir in 1 cup (150 g) of the chopped hazelnuts.
- Pour mixture into a clean container, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator for about 2 hours to let it firm up. In the meantime, make the buttercream.
For the chocolate buttercream:
- Combine the sugar and egg whites in a medium metal bowl and place over a pan of simmering water.
- Whisk the sugar mixture constantly over heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture looks smooth and shiny.
- Continue whisking until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F.
- Remove mixture from heat and pour into a stand mixer bowl. Whisk on medium speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture has cooled and meringue is at stiff peaks.
- Switch to the paddle attachment and with the speed on low, add the butter a few pieces at a time, beating until smooth. Do not add the butter too quickly or beat too quickly or the buttercream may break.
- When all the butter has been added, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed for about 6-10 minutes until it is very thick and smooth. It may appear to separate briefly but continue beating and it should come back together.
- Add in the melted chocolate and beat to combine.
- Add in the vanilla extract and Frangelico (if desired) and beat to combine.
To assemble the cake:
- Level off cake layers if necessary. Place one cake layer on a cake board or cake decorating stand.
- Remove ganache from the refrigerator and stir to loosen it up if it has become completely firm. Spread some of the ganache over the cake layer evenly.
- Place a second cake layer on top. Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the cake top and sides to act as crumb coat. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes to let the frosting set.
- Finish frosting the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup hazelnuts over the top.
Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and dog Max. 
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