Happy Sunday and welcome to the final “summer” recipe of the year! Next month will be all things fall and I have a pretty great lineup. I am so excited for that because, as we all probably know by now, fall is my favorite season. And that definitely reflects in my recipes because I feel like my best work happens in the last four months of the year.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This cake has been waiting patiently to get published for a while, but I kept pushing it back because I felt it made more sense thematically. This cake is sort of like a twist on a Black Forest cake, but instead of cherries, chocolate, and a whipped cream, the cream is replaced with a delicious Nutella frosting.
My mom is a huge fan of the chocolate cherry flavor combo, so that was kind of what made this pop into my head. I haven’t posted a cake recipe in a while so I knew I wanted one for the end of summer, and I thought cherry and chocolate with a hazelnut twist was something most people could probably get behind.
Describe This Cake to me
Taste: The cake itself has a rich, dark chocolate flavor, which contrasts the sweet hazelnut frosting beautifully. The cherry filling adds a pop of brightness and is slightly tart to offset the frosting, and the ganache drip adds that last hint of bittersweet chocolate flavor.
Texture: The cake is fudgy and moist, while the cherry compote adds a little bit of syrupy juiciness. The frosting on top is perfectly creamy, and while the ganache is set on top it melts beautifully in your mouth.
Ease: This is no more difficult than any other chocolate cake, but it does have a handful of extra steps. Making and baking the cakes is pretty straightforward, and the frosting is pretty quick to whip up as well. The cherry compote is very simple, but it’s an extra step so make sure you leave time for it. The same is true of the ganache, it’s a simple thing to make but it does add another step.
The Cake
This is a very classic chocolate cake, made with kitchen staples and classic ingredients. Sour cream and buttermilk work to make this a moist and fudgy cake, while fresh brewed coffee helps bring out the chocolate flavor by blooming the cocoa powder. We also add a little bit of melted unsweetened chocolate right to the batter to make it super fudgy and full of chocolate flavor.
The Cherry Compote
I used this same cherry compote in my black forest tart from three years ago where it was used as the filling for the tart. It works just as beautifully as a cake filling, set just enough so that it doesn’t fall apart, but still beautifully juicy and flavorful. I use frozen cherries because you can basically always find them in the grocery store, and because they help give the compote a more syrupy texture.
The Nutella Frosting
Now I love Nutella as much as the next person, but it has to be said that Nutella is really hard to work with. It’s very sweet, so it’s difficult to balance it out in a frosting. But honestly, the frosting for this cake is pretty light. I don’t use a super heavy layer of frosting to avoid it from becoming too sweet, and that works beautifully with the simple bittersweet ganache on top.
Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease and line three 8-inch cake pans with butter and parchment paper rounds. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and buttermilk until smooth and combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until almost combined. Slowly stream in the warm coffee, whisking as you do so, and the batter should start smoothing out. Finally, whisk in the melted chocolate. Batter will be smooth and somewhat shiny.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three previously prepared cake pans, and use a spatula to spread the batter evenly in the cake pans. Bake for 25-27 minutes or until the cake bounces back when lightly poked and is pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans set on a wire cooling rack.
- While the cake cools, make the cherry compote. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 3 Tablespoons of the warm water until the cornstarch is dissolved. In a large saucepan, stir together the cherries, granulated sugar, and the cornstarch mixture. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently. Try to break up some of the cherries as they cook. Once simmering, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water, cherry liqueur, and vanilla extract. Continue cooking until the mixture comes to a boil. Once boiling, keep cooking, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the mixture sit on the still-hot burner for 10 minutes before transferring to a bowl to cool completely. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours before using in the cake.
- In a large mixing bowl, using either a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the butter and vegetable shortening for two minutes or until fluffy and lightened in color. Add the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, Nutella, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Whip on low speed for 30 seconds to get everything incorporated before turning the mixer up to high speed to whip for 1 minute.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. If desired, shave off the rounded top of the cooled cakes using a serrated knife to create a flat work surface. Fill a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Place one layer on your cake stand and spread a very thin layer of frosting on top. Pipe a ring of frosting around the edge to act as a moat for the filling. Pour/spread half of the cherry filling into this space. Top with another cake layer and repeat this same process, using up the remaining cherry filling. Finally, top with the final cake layer. Spread a thin layer of frosting around the tops and sides, using a bench scraper to smooth it out.
- place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized, heat safe bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering (not boiling!), pour the warm heavy cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for 5 minutes without stirring it to melt the chocolate, then use a small spatula to stir the mixture together. It should become a glossy, pourable consistency. Stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the ganache on top of the frosted cake and allow it to drip down the sides (you may have to use a spatula to nudge it along).
- If desired, use the remaining frosting to pipe spirals on top of the ganache and on the sides of the cake. I used the Wilton 1M piping tip. If desired, top with cherries and chopped hazelnuts.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy! Leftover cake will last up to 4 days covered in the refrigerator.