The recipe this week is not a traditional Italian dessert but an innovative cake made with an Italian classic ingredient: Nutella. This delicious hazelnut cream, sold worldwide, has been part of my life as long as I can remember. When my dad was out of town for his job, my mom often made me a butter & Nutella sandwich with milk for dinner. As a kid, of course I loved that! When I turned 18, I celebrated my birthday by bringing to school a 3 ft long baguette spread with Nutella. It was a hit; Nutella is a perfect party food! Even now, Nutella is part of our family life- every morning we spread it on our croissants, or we “decorate” graham crackers with it. And it is my “go-to” when I am feeling like a moody teenager and craving chocolate.  😉

If you like Nutella (even ten times less than I do)  YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS DESSERT!!! I found the idea for this dessert on the web, I tried it and… Oh my! Super DUPER!

It is a chocolate cookies, whipped cream & Nutella cake that takes not more than 20 minutes to make, and it tastes like a Gourmet Semifreddo of Nouvelle Cuisine! The texture of the chocolate cookies becomes velvety, and mixed with the taste of frozen whipped cream and Nutella, creates a heaven of goodness…. perfect for a special occasion and great for a yummy Memorial Day get-together with friends.

The only thing that I have to point out is that to make this cake I use an Italian brand of cookie (biscotti) called “PAN DI STELLE” (stars bread) that you can easily buy online, or substitute with any other chocolate cookies.

                                                                       

                                                                           

 

INGREDIENTS for a 8” round pan

about 1 pint whipped cream – 1 confezione grande di panna da montare

about 7 tbs. melted nutella – circa 7 cucchiai da tavola di nutella

about 9 oz. milk – circa 250 ml latte

about 10.5 oz. chocolate cookies – un pacco di pan di stelle

cocoa powder to dust – cacao per spolverare

Optional: a handful of white fondant and a star stamp to decorate

(opzionale una manciata di pasta di zucchero Bianca e uno stampo a forma di stella per decorare)

To assemble the cake use a springform cake pan

(usare una teglia a cerniera)

DIRECTIONS

Melt the nutella  in  a double boiler. In a separate bowl, whip the cream.

Coat the bottom and the sides of the springform pan with whipped cream.

Dip the cookies into the milk for about 15-20 seconds. The consistency of the dipped cookies should be wet enough to become soft, without causing it to crumble. Then arrange the soaked cookies over the whipped cream layer. Don’t worry about the esthetics of the cookies as you arrange them; they are going to be covered by Nutella. Be sure to fill every free spot with small/broken pieces.

Now spread about half of your melted Nutella on top of the cookie layer.

Make another layer of whipped cream.

And another of cookies soaked in milk.

And another layer of melted Nutella and finish by coating the cake with whipped cream.

Put the cake in the freezer  at least two hours.

If you would like to make a nice presentation, before the cake thaws and with the help of a knife, take off the cake pan’s side, place on a pretty dish, frost the cake with whipped cream on all sides, and then dust the top with cocoa powder.

I love decoring cakes with fondant, so I usually make white vanilla fondant stars of different sizes that I randomly arrange on top of the cake to recall the kind of cookies I used. (And doesn’t that look perfectly patriotic?!? Perfect for Memorial Day or Fourth of July!)

 Let the cake warm up at least 30 minutes before serving.

LEARNT IT, MADE IT, LOVED IT!

I really hope you like this recipe, and please, if you do,

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Much thanks,

Silvia