Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cake with Frangelico Swiss Meringue Buttercream! Enough Said!
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • For the Cake:
  • two 6 inch cake rounds
  • 1⅓ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 stick unsalted room temp butter
  • 2 large room temp eggs
  • ½ cup buttermilk room temp
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp. of salt
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. of baking soda
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup dark Moscato brown sugar
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 1 tbsp. instant espresso powder
  • ½ cup Nutella hazelnut spread (for cake assembly and frosting step)
  • For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
  • 5 egg whites
  • 4 sticks unsalted butter room temp
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp. of salt
  • 1½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼-1/3 cup Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
  • 2.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder sifted
  • For the Ganache:
  • 4oz good quality bittersweet baking chocolate finely chopped
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • For the Candied Hazelnut Spears (optional decoration, can be made a week prior):
  • ⅓ cup hazelnuts roasted and skins removed
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • wooden skewers for dipping nuts in the caramel
  • Garnish:
  • Chocolate covered espresso beans
  • Sprinkles
Instructions
  1. For the Candied Hazelnuts: Make ahead
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and spread the nuts out over a clean baking sheet. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes until hazelnuts are lightly toasted. Remove from oven and carefully pour into a clean kitchen towel. Wrap kitchen towel around nuts and allow to sit and steam for a few minutes. When you can touch them, make sure the towel is closed around the nuts and rub together between your hands to remove the skins. If not all the skin comes off, that's ok, don't worry about it. It will be fine.
  3. Gently take the skewer and pierce one end of the hazelnut so it sticks off the end. Don't push too hard or it will split the nut. Place a heavier cutting board on a large work surface near the end that you can stick the skewers under after they are dipped in caramel. Place a piece of parchment paper on the floor beneath were the hazelnuts will hang off the end of the caramel.
  4. Prepare and ice bath next to the burners. In a medium heavy bottomed pot, pour in the sugar and pour the water over the top. Swirl the pan just to coat all the sugar with water. Heat over medium high heat without stirring. Using a clean pastry brush and water, occasionally brush down the sides of the pan with the wet brush to prevent the sugar from crystalizing. Heat until a light amber color shows through the top of the bubbles. Should take about 10 to 15 minutes. Watch carefully, can burn quickly. Remove from heat when the color is right and immediately carefully submerge into the ice bath to stop the cooking.
  5. Bring your caramel over to your prepared hazelnuts and cutting board and dip each skewered hazelnut into the hot caramel, lift and allow caramel to drip down form a spear. Place the end of the skewer (without the nut on it) under the cutting board so the caramelized hazelnut can dry with the caramel dripping down. Allow the caramel to harden over the nuts. When dry carefully remove the skewer and store the caramelized hazelnut spears in an airtight container at room temp for up to a week.
  6. For the Cake:
  7. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray with non-stick spray and line two six inch cake rounds with parchment rounds and set aside.
  8. In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Whisk to fully incorporate and set aside.
  9. In a small sauce pan bring the water to a boil and pour into a heat proof bowl and add the espresso powder and mix to combine. Set aside.
  10. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat the butter and sugars until lighter and fluffy, around 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add a third of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Next add the buttermilk and mix to combine. Add another third of the dry and mix to just incorporate. Then add the hot espresso and mix to combine. Add the last of the dry and mix to just fully incorporate.
  11. Evenly pour the batter between the two prepared pans. I use a scale to make exact, but you can eyeball. Even out the batter with off-set spatula and tap on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. Place in the pre-heated oven on the middle rack and bake for 25 to 30 minutes rotating halfway through. Cakes are done when toothpick inserted comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
  12. Allow cakes to cool in pans on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Turn cakes out and allow to cool completely on racks.
  13. For the Frangelico Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
  14. Separate whites from yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  15. Pour sugar in bowl with the egg whites and add the salt.
  16. Place bowl over, not touching, a pot with simmering water.
  17. Whisk constantly until sugar has completely dissolved around 160 degrees. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can tell it’s done when you rub a little of the mixture between your fingers and it is completely smooth with no graininess. Should take about 10 minutes.
  18. Then return bowl to stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
  19. Begin beating the eggs and sugar until whites are glossy and stiff peaks have formed.
  20. The bowl should be cool to the touch, this will take around 10 minutes. While the egg whites are beating, melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth and completely melted. Set aside an allow to cool some.
  21. Next switch to the paddle attachment and beat on medium high speed.
  22. Add the butter slowly one piece (about a tbsp. or so) at a time to incorporate. The mixture will look like it’s curdled, keep mixing, that is normal.
  23. Mix until frosting is smooth and shiny. Add the cocoa powder and mix to combine. Then add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate.
  24. Add in the vanilla extract, Frangelico and mix to combine.
  25. Frost the Cake:
  26. Place one of the cooled cake rounds on a cake board and cake stand. Fill a large piping bag with buttercream and snip the end off to create a larger opening. Pipe a circle around the perimeter of the cake to create a buttercream wall. Add a few tablespoons of the Nutella and spread evenly inside the piped buttercream. Add more buttercream over the Nutella in a circular fashion to cover. Place the second cake round on top of the bottom one and repeat the process.
  27. Then using a large off-set spatula spread some more butter cream over the top and sides of the cake to create a crumb coat. Place in the fridge to cool some while you prepare the ganache.
  28. For the Ganache:
  29. Finely chop the chocolate and place in heat proof bow. In a small saucepan heat the cream until it's just scaled. Meaning it begins to bubbles around the edges but not at a full boil. Remove from heat and pour over chopped chocolate. Allow to sit a few minutes then whisk starting from the center out until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth and shiny. Pour the ganache into a decorating squeeze bottle fitted with a medium round tip. If you don't have a squeeze bottle you can use a piping bag. Set aside at room temp while you finishing frosting the cake.
  30. Finish Frosting the Cake:
  31. Pull the cake out of the fridge and fill a large piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe more frosting over the top of the cake around the sides. Smooth top with off-set spatula and sides with a cake scraper. To get a super smooth finish, heat the end of the clean cake scraper over the flame of the stove for a few seconds to warm. Immediately use heated scraper around the frosting of the cake to smooth out any lines.
  32. Once you have the cake at the preferred smoothness level you can add the ganache drips. The ganache should be cooled down some but still pourable. Not so hot to melt the buttercream. I pop the cake in the fridge again for about 5 more minutes before I create the drip.
  33. Using the squeeze bottle to squeeze ganache drips around the entire top perimeter of the cake. Put cake bake in the fridge to speed up the setting of the ganache. About another 8 to 10 minutes.
  34. To get the ribbon effect, I used a large piping bag fitted with a large petal tip. Just piped around the top of the cake in a circular fashion moving the tip back and forth. Then I added the sprinkles on top and the espresso beans around the bottom of the cake.
  35. Add the candied hazelnuts just before serving. Serve at room temperature. Store leftovers covered in airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
  36. Enjoy!
Recipe by Social Buttercream at https://socialbuttercream.com/2019/11/09/chocolate-hazelnut-espresso-cake-with-frangelico-swiss-meringue-buttercream-enough-said/