Chocolate cake with Nutella Icing

Today is Potluck Lunch day at work. A group of people in the team cook and bring a dish to share with the whole team. Everyone takes turns, so those that cooked this round need not cook in the next rounds until its their turn again. I'm in today's round and I've bought Pork ularthiyathu and Moru Kachiyathu. Someone bought in the rice (I hope!).

Yes, I thought I'd go traditional here rather than making pasta or a curry that everyone would normally have. The people in my team are foodies and love to taste new cuisines. Everyday at lunch they pretty much drool over my tiffin and so I thought I'd give them a taste of some real  South Indian food. But I'll let you in on a secret, the pork ularthiyathu was cooked by Renju, not me! He likes to cook especially meat. Pork is one of Renju's specialties (even though I initially taught him! ;)). So looking forward to lunch today to see what they think of our cuisine.

I am so enjoying my new job much more than I thought I would. The work environment is great and the people are too! Don't get me wrong the people at my previous company were awesome too, lovely people and I've made some friends for life, but not everyone was as friendly and welcoming  like the people at the new place. So I'm glad I decided to make the move. Phew! :)

Ok, that's enough of rambling for now, let's get on with it. I was browsing through my recipes and wondering what to blog about and realized I hadn't shared the recipe for the  layered chocolate cake I made for Chackochi's birthday. Oh, that cake was my pride and joy, how could I have forgotten about it!

Again, this recipe is from Marias Menu and haven't changed anything except left out the hazelnut praline in mine as kids were eating it.  It a delicious, decadent and rich cake for sure. Definitely a cake for special occasions. Unfortunately like the Ultra moist cake, I don't have a picture of a slice so you can see the inside of the cake. It just all disappeared too fast! Maybe next time (and you can be sure there'll definitely be a next time!)
Isn’t the little banner cute?  It’s just a couple of bamboo skewers with baker’s twine and some card stock diamonds.  More fun than candles, I think!

Chocolate cake with Nutella Icing
Recipe Source : Marias Menu

Cake:
Ingredients
Plain Flour  – 2 cups
Cocoa Powder – ½ cups
Baking Soda – 1 ½ teaspoon
Salt – ½ teaspoons
Butter – 115 grams
Sugar – 1 cup
Brown Sugar – 1 cup packed
Eggs – 2, at room temp
Vanilla Essence – 2 teaspoons
Lukewarm Water – 1 cup
Buttermilk – ½ cups (refer notes for substitute)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease your 2, 8 inch  cake tins well and dust with flour or cocoa powder. 
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3.  In another bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with water and buttermilk, beating on low speed until just combined. Mix on medium-high speed until no traces of flour remain,  for about 30 seconds; do not over beat.
4. Divide the batter evenly into 2 round pans. Bake for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Nutella Butter cream Icing
Ingredients
Unsalted butter – 250 gms, softened
Nutella – 440 gms
Icing sugar –  2 cups
Milk – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Beat butter until smooth. Add Nutella and beat together until thoroughly combined. Slowly add icing sugar, mixing until combined. Add 1 tablespoon of milk. Add additional milk or icing sugar as needed to reach desired consistency.

Assembling the Cake:

1. Place bottom layer of cake on a cake board or a plate.
2. Spoon approximately 3/4 cup of frosting on to cake. Using an offset spatula, spread to 1/2 inch thickness.
3. Add top layer of cake. Spoon approximately 2 cups of frosting on top layer, and slowly work frosting over top and down the sides of the cake to form a crumb coat.
4. Smooth frosting to desired thickness, completely covering the cake. Don't worry if you can see chocolate crumbs in this layer of frosting, we'll cover them in the next step.
5. Allow frosting to harden in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
6. Using remaining frosting, evenly spread frosting over the entire crumb cake.
7. Garnish as desired, and enjoy!

Notes:

1 cup buttermilk = 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup. Let stand for 5 minutes