I wasn’t planning on making any special desserts for Valentine’s Day, mainly because I had just made a week’s worth of post-dinner desserts in the form of pot de creme. However, when Lisa sent me this round-up of recipes, I knew that I had to make the Nutella cake. The thought of basically taking a tub of Nutella and then not having to bake anything to create a dessert was too tempting to pass up.
This cake vanished in a matter of days, and was wonderfully dense and like eating blocks of fudge on top of a graham cracker like crust. I would probably make it with a graham cracker crust next time. Thanks to this recipe, I also learned what Digestives are. True to their name, apparently they were originally used to help with digestion! (A product name that describes exactly what it does? Brilliant.)
While I could have added Hazelnuts, I couldn’t seem to find them in my grocery store and had not thought to add them to my nuts.com order, and as it turns out – I think it was much better without the extra nuts!
Ingredients
- one 8.8-ounce package of “Digestive” cookies, or substitute graham crackers or chocolate wafer cookies
- 75grams (5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) soft unsalted butter
- 400grams (one 371-gram jar is fine) Nutella, at room temperature, divided
- 100grams (2/3 cup) hazelnuts, well-toasted and chopped (see note), divided
- 500grams (two 8-ounce packages is fine) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 60grams (1/2 cup) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Directions
- Break the digestives into the bowl of a processor, add the butter and a 15-milliliter/1 tablespoon of Nutella, and blitz until it starts to clump.
- Tip into a 23-centimeter/9-inch round springform and press into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill.
- Beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture, and continue beating until combined.
- Take the springform out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base. Place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge for best results.
