This ferrero rocher cake is a tall and layered thing of beauty. Tiers of moist chocolate cake, sandwiched with gianduja ganache and covered in a velvety swiss meringue buttercream. It’s a chocolate and hazelnut lover’s dream.
Started from the bottom now we here
As of April 18th, I’ve been doing this bake-and-take-pictures thing for 5 years.
Whaaaaaaat. Fo realz? Yeah homeslice, fo-realzies.
I started out as “It’s the Cookie Monster” on a free-hosting website back when I was 17. I didn’t know what I was doing, all I had was a Sony point-and-shoot camera, a wooden spoon and an insatiable hunger for sweets.
5 years down the road and… not much has changed! I still don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to hosting my own website (like what the heck is SEO) and my appetite for sweets is still untame-able. The only difference is that I’ve aged, I’ve upgraded to a bigger camera and I got a bunch of new fancy schmancy machines that are hogging up all the counter space (that last bit added by my mom who was the main resident of the kitchen)
Seriously though, you guys make this blog everything it is. Without you guys, this would be a pretty boring space. Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing, and embracing my awkward soul.
Year 4 has been a heck of a ride. I finally purchased my own little piece of the internet and that is what you’re looking at right now, this website right here. Ever since doing that, I’ve had so much more freedom to do what I want with my passion.
ALRIGHTIES, now on to this FERRERO ROCHER CAKE. I should really let my taste buds take over more often because this cake turned out fantabulous! The initial ideas for this cake were born a couple months ago when I had my annual ferrero rocher binge around Christmas time. I had doubts that it would work or even taste good but my worries were all for nothing. All my friends who tried this LOVED IT.
What is Gianduja?
The ingredient that MAKES this cake: Gianduja.
Gianduja is a type of chocolate that has hazelnut paste combined with milk chocolate. As a result, it’s softer and creamy than chocolate because of this composition. If you can’t find Gianduja, you can replace with Nutella but it won’t taste exactly the same.
The layers of this ferrero rocher cake
Like most of my other recipes, this too has multiple components (sorry!). Go big or go home right? There’s nothing fun about a cake that is made of just cake and buttercream.
So what are we dealing with here? Moving from inside –> out
chocolate cake
wafer + whipped Gianduja ganache + whole hazelnuts
chocolate cake
whipped Gianduja ganache
chocolate cake
wafer + whipped Gianduja ganache + whole hazelnuts
chocolate cake
Gianduja swiss meringue
Gianduja ganache coating
chopped hazelnuts + Ferrero Rocher
More tall and layered cake recipes:
Golden Hazelnut Praline Ganache Cake
Skyscraper Strawberry Shortcake
Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
Ferrero Rocher Cake Recipe:
Ferrero Rocher Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
- 3 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cup strong black coffee
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Gianduja Ganache
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 1/2 cups Gianduja chocolate
Gianduja Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 1 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Gianduja chocolate melted and COOLED
Gianduja Ganache (for the top coat)
- 1/2 cup Gianduja chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Wafer layers cut into 8" circles (coat with a thin layer of chocolate on both sides to prevent sogginess)
200grams of hazelnuts, roasted and skinned
- 100 grams whole
- 100 grams chopped
14 Ferrero Rocher
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 4 8-inch round baking pans
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (Batter will be thin)
- Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean
Whipped Gianduja Ganache
- Place chopped chocolate into a bowl
- Heat heavy cream in microwave until simmering
- Pour over chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted
- Place in refrigerator until cold and set
- Whip on low-med speed until lighter in colour and soft peaks - DO NOT OVERWHIP
Gianduja Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Whisk together egg whites, sugar, and salt in a CLEAN stand mixer bowl
- Place over simmering water and whisk continuously until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and return to stand mixer.
- Using whisk attachment, whip egg white mixture on med-high speed until mixture cooled and stiff peaks are formed
- Slowly add butter in, a little bit at a time and whip until incorporated
- Switch to flat beater attachment, beat in vanilla extract
- Beat in melted Gianduja chocolate until incorporated
Gianduja Ganache (for coating)
- Place chopped chocolate into a bowl
- Heat heavy cream in microwave until simmering
- Pour over chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted
- Set on counter until cool
Assembly
- Cut off any peaks/domes on the cake to get even and flat cake layers
- Place 1 layer of cake on a cake board/pedestal
- Using some buttercream as adherence, place 1st wafer layer on top
- Pipe a ring of buttercream on the perimeter of the wafer, fill the center with whipped ganache, sprinkle whole hazelnuts
- Place 2nd layer of cake on top
- Pipe a ring of buttercream on the perimeter of the wafer, fill the center with whipped ganache
- Place 3rd layer of cake on top
- Using some buttercream as adherence, place 2nd wafer layer on top
- Pipe a ring of buttercream on the perimeter of the wafer, fill the center with whipped ganache, sprinkle whole hazelnuts
- Place 4th and final layer of cake on top
- Crumb coat entire cake
- Place in fridge to set for 30 minutes
- Cover cake with the rest of the buttercream as evenly as possible
- Pour cooled ganache coating on top of the cake let it drip off the sides
- Gently pat chopped hazelnuts into the bottom half of the cake
- Top with unwrapped ferrero rocher on top
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a comment below and tag @chocolateandconnie on Instagram.
Wheree did u get such a big round piece of wafer from? Awesome
I’m in vancouver bc and I got it from Aria Market on Robson street!
looks amazing but i don’t know where to buy wafers like that or Gianduja 🙁
Hi Steph! If you’re in Vancouver, you can get large rectangles of wafers from Aria Market on Robson and the Gianduja from Gourmet Warehouse. Hope that helps!
Holy shizznits, lady! This incredible, gorgeous, drool-inducing cake is definitely worthy of a fifth blogiversary! Congratulations! I’m so happy that I got to meet you in person because you’re just as amazing as you are on this blog. I always look forward to your delicious creations and reading your hilarious, witty words of wisdom. Here’s to many more years of blogging and friendship!
Awww thank you friend!!! I’m so glad to have met you too, you’re so fun and easy to talk to. One of these days, we should have a tea/dinner/lunch party, whatever will bring together the most food! 😛
Such a beautiful cake!! So chocolaty and rich, mmm 🙂
Thank you June! 🙂
HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!! I adore you and I adore your blog and everything you make! This cake, for example? INSANITY. I’m dying. Pinning and droolingggg
ahhhh!!! you’re so sweet! I really really really appreciate your EVERYTHING! thank you so much friendo! 🙂
Hi
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Contestchef
Hi Nandy,
Thank you for dropping by and introducing such an amazing opportunity to connect with other bloggers around the world. I will definitely check out the Contestchef forum!
I’ve looked at this recipe a few times now and I’m always drooling by the end of it! I’ll definitely be making this cake for the next celebration I’m invited too! Great work Connie!! 🙂
It said to coat one side of the wafer with chocolate so that it won’t get soggy. From your pictures it looks like you put the chocolate side down. Does the filling not make the wafer soggy? I’m making this cake the day before it will be consumed. Should I coat both sides of the wafer?
Hey Amber,
I actually didn’t coat my wafer at all because I completely didn’t think of it. My suggestion on the post was to coat the side that will be touching the filling and the side touching the cake can be left uncoated. But that’s assuming that the cake is not overly moist and won’t make the wafer soggy. To be safe, I think that your idea is perfect – coat both sides!
Connie
Looks yummy! will be making this for Christmas! Can I use traditional buttercream instead of swiss buttercream? not too keen on using egg whites…..
that sounds like a delicious Christmas! the egg whites are cooked anyway since they’re whisked over boiling water but yes you can definitely use traditional American buttercream if you want! itll just be more sweet than the recipe intended 🙂
HI! your recipe instructions doesnt incoorporate boiling water! when do we add that! i forgot that and my cake sunk in the middle
Hi! The boiling water is not a separate ingredient on its own, the ingrient is one cup of coffee OR instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
This recipe looks fantastic! Just a quick question.. how did the wafers turn out without coating in the chocolate?? Just wondering if I can skip that step 😉
Thank you for sharing your creativity with all of us!! 🙂
Hi Chauntel,
Sorry for the late response, my blog detected your comment as spam somehow!
The wafers turned soggy and tough to slice! It was super frustrating trying to slice down a super tall cake through those layers without everything crumbling over. The texture wasn’t very pleasant to eat either.
Regardless, my friends still enjoyed the cake! But I still think that if it was covered with chocolate it would be more ferrero rocher like and tastier!
Lemme know if I can share more info!
Connie
Hi I’m attempting this now (insert nervous face here!) and was just wondering what the ‘crumb’ is that the entire cake gets coated in before applying the buttercream over the whole cake? Thanks!
Hi Samantha,
A “crumb coat” is the first preliminary coat of buttercream that goes on the cake. This coat is spread thinly to cover the entire cake and the sole purpose of it is to keep the crumbs in so that your final coat of buttercream doesn’t look all spotted with cake crumbs. Hope that makes sense!
Love,
Connie the chocoholic
I was just wondering how you would go about coating the wafer with chocolate and what chocolate would be best to use?
I would just brush or smear on a light coating of chocolate on both sides of the wafer using a paintbrush or spoon. As for the kind of chocolate, you can use any type! but if you want to stay true to the ferrero rocher flavours, milk would be the best option!