The Best Nutella Torte Recipe

Nutella is one of my favorite spreads. The combination of chocolate and hazelnut is just perfect. Creating a torte using Nutella as the main ingredient seems like an idea that would have been thought of before. But this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domestic Goddess” is the first that I’ve seen. This recipe will definitely have your friends thinking of you as a baking goddess. So with that, let’s jump in, or jump right to the recipe, your choice.

Recipe Notes

Once you’ve separated your eggs and are whipping the egg whites into stiff peaks, this is a good time to melt the chocolate and the butter for the batter. Once the egg whites are stiff, set them aside. Combine the melted butter and Nutella and then add in the rum, egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. I combined everything using a whisk up to this point. Next, add one third of the egg whites to the batter and mix in as hard as you want. Using the whisk here is fine. Next, gently fold in the remaining egg whites a third at a time using a spatula. Pour the batter into your greased and lined 9″ spring-form pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until the torte is starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Let the torte cool on a wire rack. The torte is super dense and will look something like this when done.

Topping Notes

Ideally, the hazelnuts topping the torte have already been peeled and roasted so that you can focus on the ganache while the torte is baking. The best way that I’ve found for peeling hazelnuts is to boil them for a few minutes with a bit of baking soda and the skins will come right off. Once peeled, you can toss them into the oven on a baking tray to dry and roast them. I’d actually recommend doing this step first so that the hazelnuts have plenty of time to cool down before putting them on top of the ganache. If the hazelnuts are still hot when added to the ganache, they’ll ruin the ganache. Boil the hazelnuts before assembling the torte and then toss them in the oven to roast while prepping the torte batter.

For the ganache topping, add the heavy cream, chocolate, and rum to a sauce pan and heat gently. Stir continuously until the chocolate is completely melted and then remove sauce pan from the heat. Continue stirring until the ganache thickens up enough to ice the top of the cake. Pour all of the ganache over the top of the torte, filling in any cracks that may have opened up during cooking or cooling. Use an uneven spatula to level out the ganache and get it close to the edge of the torte without dripping down the side. Top the torte with the roasted, and most importantly, cooled, hazelnuts. Really lay the hazelnuts on thick, they should be their own layer. After that, slice and serve. Store any leftovers in the fridge.