Chocolate Cake with Orange Nutella Frosting

I should never be left alone in the kitchen.  I leave a mess, I play my music too loud and I have to taste everything in sight. Leaving me unsupervised in the kitchen has it perks too; it usually ends with a cake or a batch of cookies on the counter that I may or may not pretend to know nothing about.

Since it was a long weekend and everyone was home I had to share my kitchen, but I woke up early enough yesterday to get some baking out of the way before anyone else got up. The result? A truly wonderful, delicious and easy chocolate cake.  Long weekends call for cake. It's in the unofficial rules of Canadian holidays, I swear! I have been dreaming about this chocolate cake for months on end.  Back in February I thought I had created the best chocolate cake recipe ever.  I had tested it multiple times in cake and cupcake form and it was a real winner. Unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost the recipe.  I finally came back to it, only to improve on the original using a tip I learned from a small town Saskatchewan cookbook; a little apple cider vinegar goes a long way when making a good chocolate cake.  Those prairie women sure were right.  I won't claim that this is the BEST CAKE EVER, but I sure will stand behind it being an awesome, super-fantastic, serve to anyone, even gluten-free haters, amazing and mouth-wateringly delicious kind of cake! 

The cake is so moist and fluffy you could eat it plain, but I paired it with a creamy frosting, since we're sticking to those rules about official cake-making weekends.  The cake is just chocolatey enough to satisfy a craving, without leaving you in serious need of a glass of milk or a cup of tea.  The orange zest lightens up the heaviness of the nuts and chocolate too!  This classic chocolate cake would be great with any kind of icing, but something about that pop of orange against the dark chocolate seemed fitting for mix of rain and shine we had all weekend here. 

Enjoy!

THE Chocolate Cake

Makes 1 9-inch cake. (I used two to make this cake)

1/4 cup salted Kerrygold butter, melted

3 eggs

1/4 cup coco sugar 

2 tbs honey 

1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder, divided

2 tbs coconut milk

2tbs coffee

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Homemade Nutella Paste* 

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups hazelnuts

4 tbs coffee

2/3 cup milk of choice (I used coconut)

3 tbs Kerrygold salted butter

1 cup dark chocolate chunks (at least %70 cocoa)

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt (only if using unsalted butter)

Orange Nutella Icing

Enought to ice 1 9-inch two layer cake

1/3 cup kerrygold butter

1 cup homemade nutella

1-2 tbs coffee

1-2 tbs coconut cream from the top of the can

2 tbs cocoa - for deeper flavour (optional)

1/3 cup homemade icing sugar +  3 tbs arrowroot powder **

2 tsp orange zest

For the Nutella Paste,  

Toast nuts @ 300 for 5-6 minutes or until skins become shiny and detached from nut.

Using a tea towel, rub the nuts to remove skins. Not to worry if they don't all come off.

Once cool, grind in a blender or food processor until it begins to form a paste that looks similar to almond butter or peanut butter. Remove from machine.

Heat milk of choice in a saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering point - do not let it simmer - turn off heat. Add the coffee grounds and let steep until desired coffee taste is achieved.  Strain coffee milk mixture into a medium bowl filled with the chocolate and butter. Let melt.  Add vanilla and hazelnut paste.  Chill until the mixture hardens. (Troubleshooting: if the mixture is not thick enough, melt slowly over low heat and add more chocolate)

For the cake,

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit (I did 10 min @ 325 and 7 @ 300 since my oven is freakishly hot)

In a medium bowl mix melted butter with sugar and honey.

Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined and somewhat frothy, 2 minutes.

Place a sifter over the bowl and put cocoa powder, coconut flour and 1 tsp of baking powder inside. Sift ingredients into bowl and mix until combined.

Place remaining baking powder into milk and coffee mixture and place in bowl. Sprinkle apple cider vinegar over milk and coffee mixture and blend batter until smooth.

Using a spatula fill a 9-inch greased round baking pan and cook until fork comes out clean. For me, it took 17 minutes as I mentioned that my oven is insanely hot. (Feel free to let me know how long it takes you!)


For the icing, 

Whip butter in a stand mixer or electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.  Add your solid Nutella paste to the bowl and whip until combined. Add remaining ingredients and whip until nice and fluffy. If too thin, add a little more Nutella paste or arrowroot powder. If too thick, add more coffee or milk.  Store in fridge if not using right away. This icing stays stable at room temperature so feel free to ice your cake in advance!

 *Note that I've made this Nutella extra thick so it can be used to make thicker icing. If you want to make the Nutella for spreading purposes, add at least an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the mixture.

** Note that homemade icing sugar is simply a 1:1 ration of coconut palm sugar and arrowroot powder, blended in a Vita-mix or food processor to make a fine powder