I LOOOOOVE Nutella. I can happily eat it straight out of the jar, so whipping it up into a mousse and serving it with a hazelnut cake just makes sense. It’s nutty, chocolaty, and creamy all at once—what’s not to love? As far as I’m concerned, anything with Nutella sells itself.

　　

Ingredients

serves: 6 to 8

　　

for the cake

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

　　1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

　　1 1/2 cups unhusked hazelnuts, toasted (see page 17)

　　1 cup sugar

　　1/2 cup hazelnut paste

　　1 teaspoon vanilla extract

　　3 large eggs

　　1 teaspoon baking powder

　　Pinch of kosher salt

　　1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

　　

for the mousse

1 1/2 cups Nutella

　　1/2 cup mascarpone or cream cheese

　　1 cup heavy cream, chilled

　　

FOR THE CAKE

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

　　

Step 2

Butter and flour a 9-inch round or square baking pan.

　　

Step 3

In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until coarsely chopped. Reserve.

　　

Step 4

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, hazelnut paste, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

　　

Step 5

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

　　

Step 6

Add the baking powder, salt, and cocoa and beat to combine.

　　

Step 7

Gradually add the flour, stopping the beater when it is just combined.

　　

Step 8

Fold 1 cup of the chopped hazelnuts into the batter, reserving the rest for garnish.

　　

Step 9

Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

　　

Step 10

Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pan, and let cool completely.

　　

FOR THE MOUSSE

Step 11

In a large mixing bowl, combine the Nutella and mascarpone.

　　

Step 12

In another large bowl, beat the heavy cream to soft peaks (see page 234)—you can use an electric beater here or just a whisk and good old-fashioned elbow grease.

　　

Step 13

Add a spoonful of the whipped cream to the Nutella mixture and stir until you don’t see any streaks.

　　

Step 14

Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the remaining whipped cream into the Nutella mixture. To do this, lift the mixture gently from underneath, bring the spatula up, turn it over, and fold the mixture over as you rotate the bowl slowly. You want to do this gently; the point is to keep it fluffy and not squish the air out of the whipped cream. Repeat this process two more times with the remaining whipped cream. You’re done when you should have a fluffy, homogeneous mixture.

　　

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKES

Step 15

Cut the cake into 3-inch squares or rounds and cut each of these in half equatorially.

　　

Step 16

Schmear the Nutella mousse on both the bottom and the top half of each of the hazelnut cakes, then give each of the cakes a light sprinkey-dink of the chopped hazelnuts. Place the top half back on the bottom and serve immediately.

　　Cook Like a Rock Star