Hazelnut Sponge Cake With Nutella Frosting

This recipe is by special request from fans on my Facebook page.  I made it for Christmas Eve.  I’m lucky it turned out so well, too, since it was one of my made up recipes; I searched and searched, but couldn’t find anything that promised to deliver the kind of cake I wanted.  Now, I will add that with this cake, the secret is in more than the combination of ingredients; how you put them together really, really matters.  Do not just dump everything in a bowl and mix, or you won’t get the results you want.  Unless, of course, you want something that tastes less like cake and more like a brick.  So with that being said, read on….

YOU WILL NEED:

For the cake:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
½ cup vegetable shortening
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup hazelnut meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 to 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup (or more!) Nutella
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
pinch of salt

TO MAKE:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Grease three 8″ cake pans.
Cream your butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla together until very white and fluffy (about 4 minutes).  This step is VITAL.  It will add air to the cake without making it tough.  When baking, as a general rule, you want to avoid over-beating your eggs; which is why dumping everything together into a bowl rarely yields satisfactory results.
Add in the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
Beat the eggs and milk mixture into the batter.
Distribute the batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Note that this recipe was developed using a gas oven; electric ovens tend to produce shorter cooking times, meaning you should check your cake after 25 minutes.  Some gas ovens, meanwhile, have much longer cooking times than mine.  So the first few times you make this cake, you’ll want to keep a weather eye on it.
After the cake is done, and while the cake is cooling (I use wire racks from the restaurant supply store), begin creaming together the ingredients for the frosting.  You may, depending on how much Nutella you use, need to add slightly more either butter or milk (or less confectioners sugar) to achieve your desired consistency.
Assemble that cake!

If you can’t find hazelnut meal in your local grocery store, you can either a) whip out that food processor and grind some hazelnuts up yourself or b) order online.  I buy mine on Amazon.  I also use Bob’s Red Mill all purpose white flour, which is neither bleached nor bromated and which in my humble opinion at least makes everything taste better.  I also do not own, or want, a single fancy kitchen gadget.  I learned to cook without them and have never felt the need for them.  The only upgrade I’ve ever made was purchasing a hand mixer.  It’s so much easier than using a wooden spoon!