Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cheesecake Cake

I love Ferrero Rocher's. And chocolate. And cheesecake. And cake. So why not mix them all together into one giant ball of deliciousness. I still had quite a few leftover Ferrero Rocher's from my little Pastel Christmas Brunch, so I decided to make the yummiest of desserts and incorporate them. I really love hazelnut anything, and this cheesecake cake incorporates Nutella to get that perfect flavour.

Of course I am not the first person to think of such a fabulous idea, I found a few online that I liked and modified them. I actually used a chocolate cake recipe that I have in one of my cookbooks, so you could use your favourite recipe, or try the one here. For the Nutella cheesecake layer, I used this, and halved it. I decided to go with a taller cake, so I used 2-6 inch cake pans and 1-6 inch springform pan instead of 9 inch ones, but you could do that one if you would like a much larger cake. For the icing I used this recipe for Chocolate Nutella Cream Cheese Buttercream, and it is so yummy! I also added some crushed Ferrero Rocher Chocolates.

Bake and cool 2 cake layers, 1 layer of cheesecake, chilled, and buttercream. To assemble Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cheesecake Cake, place first cake layer, (I level off with my cake cutter) on a cake stand or plate. Place a layer of buttercream with Ferrero Rocher layer on top of the cake and then add the cheesecake layer. Ice a layer of buttercream on top of that. Then add the last chocolate cake layer.  Ice the top of your 2 tier cake with some buttercream. I then used a decorators bag fitted with a 1M tip and made little swirls evenly spaced along the edge and topped each with a full Ferrero Rocher. Tadaa!

TIPS:

-I always parchment paper my cake pans, it make for perfect sides when you remove from pan. You can find a tutorial on how to do that here if you aren't sure how.

-I put my cheesecake in the freezer in the pan after letting it cool so that it got very stiff, as to not buckle under the top layer.

-I put my buttercream in a decorator's bag and make circles starting on the outside, and then use an offset cake spatula to spread it out evenly. This is not necessary but I find it makes it a bit more even and prettier ;)

I had a few people ask about set up for a photo like this, so here it is :) 

I used a black piece of foamcore as the backdrop and two smaller pieces on the sides, with an opening  to allow light to fall onto my objects. I couldn't find my reflector at that moment so I just used a piece of white paper to bounce a little bit of light onto the left side. It was a pretty gloomy day, so I decided to go for a bit of a darker look and am very happy with how it turned out. 

And here is a little sneak into some of my Christmas decor, can't wait to do a little tour :)

 

Thanks to Ferrero Rocher for the yummiest treats!

Star ornaments: Louis B Party Shop

xox nat