A Nutella Explosion

Layers of dark chocolate sponge, sandwiched with a healthy dollop of nutella frosting and adorned with edible chocolate jewels.

Urban dictionary defines Nutella as "God's favourite spreadable food, made by pixies in the magical land of yum". To be honest, I can't describe it any better. Am I allowed to say that this is probably the best way to consume it without having to eat spoonfuls out of the jar (my part time full time job)? This cake is the perfect marriage of a variety of textures. But truth be told, prepare to put in a fair few hours of work...but would it make it better if I said it is definitely worth it in the end?
I am going to break this up in to different components. You can pick and choose what you put in or on the cake.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

250g butter, at room temperature

200g dark chocolate 

1 tablespoon espresso

100ml whole milk

200g self raising flour

40g cocoa powder

250g caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150ml sour cream

Method

      1) Preheat oven to gas mark 3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate, butter, espresso powder and milk.

      2) Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl and add the caster sugar.

      3) Fold the chocolate mixture along with the eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream.

      4) Bake this in a 6 inch tin for an hour to an hour and ten minutes.

So far so good?

Nutella Frosting
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
115g butter

1/3 cup nutella

1/4 cup of regular sour cream

110g melted dark chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

      1) The frosting is pretty simple, I suppose I opt for the dump it all in a bowl and mix it till it's a aaaaaaspreadable consistency. 

      2) This should be cooled and then spread over the cake. It is your choice how you want the end aaaaaaproduct to look. I chose to go for a smooth finish, purely because I was adding more decoration on top.

I chose to decorate my cake with crispy treats, an assortment of chocolates, toasted hazelnuts and dollops of frosting. As mine was a celebration cake, I added a nutella cake topper made out of tempered chocolate and royal icing. I will add a a link to my meringue recipe below!

Lots of Love,
Kaya xo