Death by Nutella Cake 2.0

Ciao a tutti!! Some of you may recall my Valentine’s Day Post…Death by Nutella Cake. Layers of nutella brownie, nutella mousse, nutella glaze, melted chocolate and toasted hazelnuts. I knew I was a mad woman already, this cake just proved it more so. But the madness didn't stop there. Due to the popularity of this cake recipe, I knew I had something, I knew I had to do more…..and so I did.

Death by Nutella 2.0. That’s right, another version of the “famous” Death by Nutella Cake, but this time, I 2.0ed it, making it even more extravagant. I kept the nutella brownie, nutella glaze and nutella mousse, but I went it even further with this recipe by adding a hazelnut meringue layer, candied hazelnuts and making this recipe into individual cakes. Now, you can very easily make this recipe into one large cake, the same way the original Death by Nutella Cake was made, I just figured by making them into little masterpieces, the deeper I could indulge my madness.  So I give you, without further adieu, Death by Nutella Cake 2.0!!!!

ENJOYING MY CAKE!!!!

Death by Nutella Cake 2.0

Nutella Brownie

1 stick unsalted butter

½ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

½ cup nutella

3 ounces melted chocolate

2 eggs

½ cup flour

½ tsp. salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a round cake pan (9 by 1 ½ inch pan) and set to the side.

Melt 1 stick of butter and ½ cup of cocoa powder in the microwave, very slowly. You will want the cocoa to completely blend with the butter until it is smooth. When it’s silky, add ¾ cup sugar, ½ cup of nutella and 3 ounces of melted chocolate. Whisk in 2 eggs, add ½ cup flour and ½ tsp. salt. Fold. Make sure there are no lumps!! Pour into your cake and bake for 30 minutes.

When it is done, take it out of the oven and allow to cool for at least two hours. In the meantime, prepare the nutella mousse….

Nutella Mousse

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. espresso powder

1 tsp. hazelnut extract

½ cup nutella

In a medium size steel bowl, add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp. espresso power and 1 tsp. hazelnut extract. Whisk until the espresso powder is dissolved. Add ½ cup nutella and using an electric beater, whisk until soft peaks form, this should take around 2-3 minutes. Do not overbeat though. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours. Prepare the nutella glaze now..

Nutella Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup nutella

3 tbsp. milk

Add powdered sugar, nutella and milk to a medium size bowl. Whisk together until smooth. You can now prepare your hazelnut meringues…

Hazelnut Meringues

1 ¼ cup blanched hazelnuts

2 egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup of confectioners’ sugar

Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts until finely ground, almost like a flour. In a medium size heatproof bowl, combine eggs, whites and pinch of salt. Set your bowl over, but not in, a pot with 2 inches simmering water and cook, whisk constantly until warm to the touch, it will take around 3 minutes. Remove the bowl for heat and using an electric mixer, beat on high until very thick and glossy. Fold in your hazelnuts.

Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Grab a pastry bag, fit with a medium sized round pastry tip and fill with the meringue mix.  Using the pastry bag, form the meringues into small circles, around 3 by 3, this mix should make around 6 meringues of this size. Bake until cracked on top, around 19 minutes. Allow to cool. Now make your candied hazelnuts…

Candied Hazelnuts

¾ cup blanched hazelnuts

2/3 cup sugar

¼ water

Begin by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat your oven 350 degrees. In a medium size saucepan over high heat, combine hazelnuts, sugar and water. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent sugar from burning. Continue to cook until the sugar is caramel colored, around 7 to ten minutes.

Quickly pour the nuts on the parchment paper and spread out with a rubber spatula. Place in the oven for 3 minutes and then remove. Let the candied hazelnuts sit and cool until the sugar has completely hardened. Once it has hardened, break the candied hazelnuts into pieces, whatever size you like!

Assembling the Cake

Step 1- First start off with the cooled nutella brownie. Using either plating rings or cake rings (I use 3 by 3, you can of course use 4 by 4 or whatever size you like). Using a serrated knife carefully cut the brownie forms into two layers. Set one layer aside, leaving the other bottom layer right where it is!

Step 2- Take the nutella mousse out of the refrigerator and spoon onto the bottom brownie layer. It shouldn’t flow over the whole cake. Using a spatula spread over the brownie, leaving an inch or so of the edges of the brownie bare (when you put the final brownie layer on top, it will naturally push some of the mousse further.)

Step 3- Place one of your hazelnut meringues on top of the nutella mousse layer. Spread with another layer of nutella mousse.

Step 4- Carefully put the top brownie layer over the mousse layer. Pour some of nutella glaze over the brownie and top with some of the candied hazelnuts. Drizzle with a little more of the nutella glaze. Serve and enjoy! Buon Appetite!!

Valentine's Day with Death by Nutella Cake

Buongiorno a tutti!! Happy Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re spending today with your boyfriend, spouse or just a group of friends, I have the perfect treat to share. It involves nutella and chocolate. Do I have your attention now? I thought so. I am making my Death by Nutella Cake for tonight’s festivities (and no, I’m not telling you what they are!!). This cake is incredible. I made it the first time a few weeks ago and brought it to some friends who went nuts over it!

This is a layer cake made with a nutella brownie, nutella mousse, nutella glaze, melted chocolate and roasted hazelnuts. It’s insane. If you aren’t in love, you will be!! And if you’re looking to seal the deal with some tonight, I think this cake will do the trick. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be around you more if you keep baking cakes like this!?!? This cake is a lot of steps, but believe me…it is 100% worth it. Enjoy!!

DEATH BY NUTELLA CAKE

Nutella Brownie

1 stick unsalted butter

½ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

½ cup nutella

3 ounces melted chocolate

2 eggs

½ cup flour

½ tsp. salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a round cake pan (9 by 1 ½ inch pan) and set to the side.

Melt 1 stick of butter and ½ cup of cocoa powder in the microwave, very slowly. You will want the cocoa to completely blend with the butter until it is smooth. When it’s silky, add ¾ cup sugar, ½ cup of nutella and 3 ounces of melted chocolate. Whisk in 2 eggs, add ½ cup flour and ½ tsp. salt. Fold. Make sure there are no lumps!! Pour into your cake and bake for 30 minutes.

When it is done, take it out of the oven and allow to cool for at least two hours. In the meantime, prepare the nutella mousse….

Nutella Mousse

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. espresso powder

1 tsp. hazelnut extract

½ cup nutella

In a medium size steel bowl, add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp. espresso power and 1 tsp. hazelnut extract. Whisk until the espresso powder is dissolved. Add ½ cup nutella and using an electric beater, whisk until soft peaks form, this should take around 2-3 minutes. Do not overbeat though. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours. Prepare the nutella glaze now..

Nutella Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ cup nutella

3 tbsp. milk

Add powdered sugar, nutella and milk to a medium size bowl. Whisk together until smooth.

Chocolate Drizzle

3 ounces of 70% chocolate

Prepare a double boiler filled with an inch of water and melt chocolate slowly until smooth. Set aside.

Toasted Hazelnuts

½ cup of blanched and toasted hazelnuts

After blanching and toasting the hazelnuts, roughly chop them and set aside.

Assembling the Cake

Step 1- First start off with the cooled nutella brownie. Using a serrated knife carefully cut the brownie into two layers. Set one layer aside, leaving the other bottom layer where you will fully prepare and present it when it is done.

Step 2- Take the nutella mousse out of the refrigerator and spoon onto the bottom brownie layer. It should flow over the whole cake. Using a spatula spread over the brownie, leaving an inch or so of the edges of the brownie bare (when you put the final brownie layer on top, it will naturally push some of the mousse further.)

Step 3- Drizzle 1 ounce of the melted chocolate over the mousse layer.

Step 4- Carefully put the top brownie layer over the mousse layer. Drizzle the rest of the melted chocolate over the top layer. Pour the glaze over the top brownie layer and spread evenly. Let is drip over the sides of the cake.

Step 5- Last but not least, sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts over the top of the cake. Buon Appetito!! 

The Dark Side of Nutella - Nutella Zeppoles

It happened again. I woke up this morning, my hair a mess, half off the bed, memory blurred and my hand clutching a spoon like it was a teddy bear. What happened? What had I done? And then it all hit me. The familiar scent of hazelnut, the rich taste of chocolate in my mouth, the sticky fingers. I hit the nutella….again. Real bad too. How could I keep doing this? It was so unlike me. There was just something about the way nutella smelled and tasted, the smooth and creamy texture, all the versatility, the things I could do with it.

Never mind that now, I had to figure out exactly what got me here. I looked to the right side of the bed and saw a few half opened jars of the stuff, to the left there was a plate full of crumbs. Crumbs. Okay, I didn’t just eat out of the jar then. They texture of the crumbs didn’t make sense. They weren’t brownies or cookies, they were too crispy for that. I needed to investigate further. I got up and walked into the kitchen searching for more clues. A large mixing bowl sat on the counter, whisk still in it next to a used container of ricotta. A frying pan with a fresh layer of oil on the stove. Frying pan? Ricotta cheese? I clearly wasn’t making cheesecake, so what could I have possibly done with a frying pan, ricotta and nutella?  Oh no. I remembered. It all came back to me. I made my great aunt Carmella’s Nutella Ricotta Zeppoles. But how? My mother kept the secret recipe hidden, I didn’t even know where it was. I checked my phone, seeing that I had called her four times last night, she must have spilled. Obviously, what else could explain the zeppoles? I certainly didn’t know how to make them. Only my mother held the key.

I went back to the bedroom searching desperately for more clues and there it was. Placed neatly on my desk. The recipe. The recipe for the most amazing, crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, Nutella Ricotta Zeppoles. Glancing over the recipe, it wasn’t hard to see why I had ended up like this.

Nutella Ricotta Zepploes

1 ½ pounds ricotta

½ cup of nutella

2 cups of flour

¼ tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

2 tbsp. sugar

4 eggs

1 cup of neutral oil for frying

First, mix together your ricotta and nutella. Then add your eggs. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the nutella ricotta mix. Let the batter sit for around 20 minutes.

Prepare a deep pot for frying over high heat and add your oil. Drop batter by large tablespoons into the oil. Each zeppole should take roughly 4-6 minutes to fry, so please stand by and watch them. They should also float to the top!! Don’t get nervous if when they are done frying they look dark, the nutella makes the batter a mocha color! When they are done, take them out and put on a wire rack so any excess oil drips off. I like to serve these the traditional way with a light dusting on powdered sugar! Boun Appetito!! 

For more intense Nutella cravings and recipes, be sure to take a look at Ms. Adventures in Italy, Bleeding Espresso and World Nutella Day!!

The Sweets of Roma: Tortine di Nutella

Ciao a tutti!! When you’re in Italy, you can’t NOT have candy and pastries. I mean, it’s kind of a law. Well, it’s not, but still. It really should be. Something I love about Italian sweets is how different the flavors are from the ones we have in America. In America it’s all about cookie dough and cookies and cream, in Italy, nut and fruit flavors are very popular. 

I've never seen a Chestnut Torta in a bakery, except when I’m in Italy. I’m a big fan of nutty flavors, so everything topped with pistachios, walnuts, almonds, pignolis and chestnuts is a nice surprise for me. I’m telling you….just looking in the windows of the bakeries was a treat. So, I thought it would be fun to post a Pastry Photo Tour of Roma!! I've also added recipes that I've tried and tested that were the closest to the actual experience. I'll be posting a new pastry recipes/photo every few days inspired by the beautiful pastries I enjoyed while in Roma. And in a few days, a Pastry/Gelato Photo Tour of Firenze! 

But for today....Tortine di Nutella. That's right. Nutella. Who doesn't love nutella? I'm not sure I should tell you how many of these babies I ate while in Italy. Honestly....I had one almost every night. I'm not even kidding. Clearly, I love nutella, as you may recall from my Nutella Chronicle Post. Every bakery has their own take on this classic tart, so I figured it was only fair to try everyone's version!! Right?!?! These are little flaky shortbread tartlets filled with a deep and rich nutella ganache. 

They. Are. Amazing. No lie. Enjoy and please let me know what you think!! 

Tortine di Nutella

Buttery Shortbread Pastry Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

14 tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. chilled heavy cream

1 tsp. salt

In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, egg, sugar, heavy cream and salt and pulse until the dough gathers into big clumps.  Put the dough on a clean counter surface that is lightly floured and gather it together. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough. You can use whatever size tart pans you like, piccolo, medio or grande. Press the tart pans into the dough for your crust. Put them in the oven on 300 degrees and cook for 6 minutes. They will not be completely done, but you will be baking them again when filled with the nutella. Now prepare your nutella ganache...

Nutella Ganache 

1 cup of nutella

4 ounces of good quality milk chocolate, I like to use Perugina chocolate bars

1/2 cup heavy cream

Chopped Hazelnuts to top the tarts

Prepare the nutella and chocolate in a small mixing bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Add the nutella and chocolate to the heavy cream and mix until silky and smooth. Now get the tart/tartlet crusts (whatever size you picked) and carefully spoon the nutella into the crust. Put back in the oven on 300 degrees and bake for another 6 minutes. Take out and add the chopped hazelnuts to top of the tarts. Boun Appetito!!

The Nutella Chronicles: Nutella Ricotta Zeppoles, Week One

It happened again. I woke up this morning, my hair a mess, half off the bed, memory blurred and my hand clutching a spoon like it was a teddy bear. What happened? What had I done? And then it all hit me. The familiar scent of hazelnut, the rich taste of chocolate in my mouth, the sticky fingers. I hit the nutella….again. Real bad too. How could I keep doing this? It was so unlike me. There was just something about the way nutella smelled and tasted, the smooth and creamy texture, all the versatility, the things I could do with it.

Never mind that now, I had to figure out exactly what got me here. I looked to the right side of the bed and saw a few half opened jars of the stuff, to the left there was a plate full of crumbs. Crumbs. Okay, I didn't just eat out of the jar then. They texture of the crumbs didn't make sense. They weren't brownies or cookies, they were too crispy for that. I needed to investigate further.

I got up and walked into the kitchen searching for more clues. A large mixing bowl sat on the counter, whisk still in it next to a used container of ricotta. A frying pan with a fresh layer of oil on the stove. Frying pan? Ricotta cheese? I clearly wasn't making cheesecake, so what could I have possibly done with a frying pan, ricotta and nutella?  Oh no. I remembered. It all came back to me. I made my great aunt Carmella’s Nutella Ricotta Zeppoles. But how? My mother kept the secret recipe hidden, I didn't even know where it was. I checked my phone, seeing that I had called her four times last night, she must have spilled. Obviously, what else could explain the zeppoles? I certainly didn't know how to make them. Only my mother held the key.

I went back to the bedroom searching desperately for more clues and there it was. Placed neatly on my desk. The recipe. The recipe for the most amazing, crispy and crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, Nutella Ricotta Zeppoles. Glancing over the recipe, it wasn't hard to see why I had ended up like this.

Nutella Ricotta Zepploes

1 ½ pounds ricotta

½ cup of nutella

2 cups of flour

¼ tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

2 tbsp. sugar

4 eggs

1 cup of neutral oil for frying

First, mix together your ricotta and nutella. Then add your eggs. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the nutella ricotta mix. Let the batter sit for around 20 minutes.

Prepare a deep pot for frying over high heat and add your oil. Drop batter by large tablespoons into the oil. Each zeppole should take roughly 4-6 minutes to fry, so please stand by and watch them. They should also float to the top!! Don’t get nervous if when they are done frying they look dark, the nutella makes the batter a mocha color! When they are done, take them out and put on a wire rack so any excess oil drips off. I like to serve these the traditional way with a light dusting on powdered sugar! Boun Appetito!!