Chocolate-Nutella-Heaven

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake

2 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 c. milk

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.   

  

Chocolate Nutella Pudding Center

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. corn starch

14 tsp. salt

1/3 c. cocoa powder or 1/2 c. if you are a dark chocolate lover

2 c. milk

4 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 jar of Nutella

Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt together in a pot. Slowly add milk while whisking. Add yolks and mix thoroughly. Turn stove onto medium heat and whisk constantly until thickened. Pour through sieve into bowl. Add vanilla and Nutella and stir. Cover by pressing saran wrap onto surface of pudding  and chill for 3 hours.

Chocolate Ganache Topping

I don't have an exact recipe that I use, I just melt Ghiradelli chips over a double boiler and add cream until I like the consistency.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting

3 egg whites

3/4 c. sugar

2 sticks sliced unsalted butter at room temperature

tiny pinch of salt

1/2 jar of nutella

whisk eggs and sugar in double boiler until sugar is disolved at 150 degrees. Immediately move to Kitchen-Aid mixer and mix with whisk attachment until cool (about 10 minutes). Switch to paddle attachment and mix while slowly adding butter. Continue to mix another minute or two. Add Nutella and mix again, thoroughly. Do not chill.

 

Assembly: Put one layer of cake on stand. Spread pudding (you won't need to use all of it) until about 1/2 inch from the edge. Place second layer of cake on top. Drizzle ganache over cake and let it drip a little over the edge. Place cake in fridge for an hour to set. I didn't do that last night because I was pressed for time and the cake started to slouch so make sure you allow enough time to chill. Right before serving, plop all of the frosting on top and spread around with spatula, adding soft peaks. This cake was a bit of work but so much fun to make and tasted like heaven. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it handled serving. You could see the layers perfectly and it looked just as pretty sliced and on a plate with a scoop of icecream as it does in the picture.