Brownie Nutella Cake with Raspberries
This Brownie Nutella Cake is stuffed two different kinds of chocolate cake, tangy raspberry preserves, and luscious Nutella buttercream that’s finished with a glossy chocolate glaze.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
For the Brownie Cake
- 7 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced
- 3 ounces dark chocolate chopped
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tea vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teas baking powder
- ¼ teas salt
For the Chocolate Cake
- 1 ⅓ cup (160g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (50g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tea baking powder
- ½ tea salt
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 ½ teas pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup hot coffee or water
For the Nutella Buttercream
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teas pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (150 g) chocolate-hazelnut spread
- ½ cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder
For the Chocolate Glaze
- 2 ounces (58g) dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon light corn syrup
- pinch salt
- ¾ cup raspberry jam
- fresh raspberries to decorate
Instructions
To Make the Brownie Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line the bottom of a 6-inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring an inch or two of water to a simmer. Place the bowl with the butter and chocolate on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler. Heat the mixture until the ingredients begin to melt. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or by hand), beat the sugar and eggs together until foamy and pale in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the melted chocolate mixture and fold until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. When done, the top will be slightly cracked and a toothpick inserted should come out with moist crumbs. Do not overbake. Allow the brownies cake to cool for about 20 minutes before removing it from the pan.
To Make the Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 6-inch cake pans and set aside.
- Whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil until smooth until some of the sugar begins to dissolve.
- In a separate bowl, add the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Use a fork to break the eggs then stir to combine. Add the egg mixture to the sugar and oil and stir together until smooth.
- Add in the flour mixture to the batter and stir to combine with a large rubber spatula. Make sure that you do not leave any pockets of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl but do not overmix.
- Carefully pour in the hot coffee/water and whisk until smooth. The batter will be thin.
- Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared pans. Bake in a preheated oven for 24 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 to 20 minutes before removing them from their pans. Continue to cool the cakes on a wire rack before storing, slicing, or frosting.
To Make the Nutella Buttercream
- Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk by hand until just combined. Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer. Place the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Whisking intermittently, heat the egg white mixture until it reaches 160°F on a candy thermometer.
- Carefully remove the bowl and place it on the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form and the outside of the mixing bowl returns to room temperature, about 8 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add in the butter, a couple tablespoons at time. Once all of the butter has been added, stop the mixer and switch the whisk for the paddle attachment.
- Mix the buttercream on medium speed until the butter is fully incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate-hazelnut spread and cocoa and mix to combine. Decrease the speed to low and mix until silky and smooth, about 2 minutes.
To Make the Chocolate Glaze
- Place the chocolate, cream, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until the cream begins to and the chocolate starts to melt.
- Remove from the heat. Use a whisk to stir until smooth. Add a pinch of salt and stir to combine.
- Allow the chocolate glaze to cool before drizzling on the cake. The glaze needs to be about roomtemperature but remain fluid. Reheat as necessary.
To Assemble
- Once all of the cakes (including the brownie) have completely cooled, use a serrated knife to carefully split them in half. There will be 6 layers total.
- Place one layer of cake on a cake board or serving dish. Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip with the Nutella buttercream. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the outer edge of the cake. Fill the center of the buttercream “dam” with 3 to 4 tablespoons of raspberry jam. Smooth out with an offset spatula.
- Top the raspberry filling with a second layer of cake. Dollop on about ¾ of Nutella buttercream and spread until smooth with an offset spatula.
- Place one of the brownie cake layers on top and repeat with the Nutella buttercream dam and raspberry filling. Place the second brownie cake layer on top. Dollop on about ¾ of Nutella buttercream and spread until smooth with an offset spatula.
- Place another cake layer on top and repeat with the Nutella buttercream dam and raspberry filling. Finally, place the last cake layer on top.
- Crumb coat the cake with buttercream and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- If the cake starts to get too soft at any point during the stacking process, place the whole thing in the fridge or freezer until the buttercream firms up slightly. You may also crumb coat the sides of the cake as you stack by spreading a thin layer of buttercream around the cake to ensure that none of the raspberry jam leaks out.
- Frost the crumb coated cake with Nutella buttercream until smooth. Chill for about 10 minutes.
- Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, add the chocolate drip around the edges of the cake. The glaze needs to be room temperature but still liquid.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the remaining buttercream. Pipe spiral of buttercream around the top edge of the cake. Place a fresh raspberry on top of each spiral.