Birthday Cake Club : Raspberry Brownie Nutella Cake

Free preview of a new series - Birthday Cake of the Month!

Oct 5, 2021

Hi Bakers! Happy October!

This might be one of my favorite months of the year. But before we jump into all the pumpkin and spice, I want to introduce you to this Raspberry Brownie Nutella Cake and what I am calling the “Birthday Cake Club.”

This month we’ll be running the birthday cake for all subscribers, but be sure to subscribe to Bake Club+ to make sure you get all future posts straight to your inbox.

Do you have a birthday this season? Is it always being skipped over or intertwined with the holidays? With my baby due the week before Christmas, I got to thinking - how do we make sure to make fall and winter birthdays special and separate from all the holiday hustle?

My son was born in January, so we have some experience with keeping things festive and fresh for him after months of PSL and gingerbread exhaustion. But before Christmas? This might be tricky. I promise to make her birthday its own special day - not subbing poinsettias for balloons or candy canes for streamers. And of course, a unique birthday cake!

Allow me to introduce the Birthday Cake Club! Of course this will exist long after Christmas, but I am excited to kick it off during this very holiday-centric season.

Birthday Cake Club will consist of a monthly layer cake recipe that I hope you will all love and bake for anyone you know celebrating a birthday that month (or for yourself). As you can see, we are skipping the pumpkin spice and apple in favor of more year-round flavors and designs. Just because you are born in October doesn’t mean you should feel stuck with an orange birthday cake every year.

Know someone special with an October birthday? I bet they will love this recipe!
If you are looking for something special for a baker in your life, consider gifting a spot in our upcoming online cake class:

October 21 Bake Club Class

I am super excited about this project. It brings me back to developing recipes for my first book, Layered. I hope you enjoy these new creations as much as you have loved the ones from the book. So please bake, share, and spread some birthday cheer with Birthday Cake Club!

Now about this cake - Rich chocolate brownie layers, silky Nutella frosting, and raspberry jam. At six layers tall, it is packed with decadence and pops of tangy raspberry. The brownie layers are chewy and fudgy while the cake layers are super moist. Nutella is folded into Swiss meringue buttercream to make the frosting. It might sound like a lot of chocolate, but the buttercream is still surprisingly silky and much lighter than a heavy fudge frosting.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 ⅓ cup (160 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (50 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup (60g) + 2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 g) buttermilk
¾ cup (180 g) hot coffee or water

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 6-inch cake pans and set aside.
Whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil until smooth or some of the sugar begins to dissolve.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Use a fork to break up the egg yolks then stir to combine. Add the egg mixture to the sugar and oil and stir together until smooth.
Add in the flour mixture to the batter and stir to combine with a large rubber spatula. Make sure that you do not leave any pockets of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl but do not overmix.
Carefully pour in the hot coffee/water and whisk until smooth. The batter will be thin.
Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared pans. Bake in a preheated oven for 24 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 to 20 minutes before removing them from their pans. Continue to cool the cakes on a wire rack before storing, slicing, or frosting.

Brownie Cake

Ingredients:

7 tablespoons (100 g) unsalted butter, diced
3 ounces (85 g) dark chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
¾ cup (180 ml) + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (96 g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line the bottom of a 6-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring an inch or two of water to a simmer. Place the bowl with the butter and chocolate on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler. Heat the mixture until the ingredients begin to melt. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or by hand), beat the sugar and eggs together until foamy and pale in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the melted chocolate mixture and fold until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. When done, the top will be slightly cracked and a toothpick inserted should come out with moist crumbs. Do not overbake. Allow the brownies cake to cool for about 20 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Nutella Buttercream

Ingredients:

3 large egg whites
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 ½ cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup (150 g) chocolate-hazelnut spread
½ cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:

Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk by hand until just combined. Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer. Place the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Whisking intermittently, heat the egg white mixture until it reaches 160°F on a candy thermometer.
Carefully remove the bowl and place it on the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form and the outside of the mixing bowl returns to room temperature, about 8 minutes.
With the mixer on low, add in the butter, a couple tablespoons at time. Once all of the butter has been added, stop the mixer and switch the whisk for the paddle attachment.
Mix the buttercream on medium speed until the butter is fully incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and add the vanilla extract, chocolate-hazelnut spread, and cocoa. On medium speed, mix to combine. Decrease the speed to low and mix until silky and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

2 ounces (58 g) dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Pinch salt

Instructions:

Place the chocolate, cream, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until the cream begins to simmer and the chocolate starts to melt.
Remove from the heat. Use a whisk to stir until smooth. Add a pinch of salt and stir to combine.
Allow the chocolate glaze to cool before drizzling on the cake. The glaze needs to be about room temperature but remain fluid. Reheat as necessary.

To Assemble:

¾ cup (180 ml) raspberry jam
Fresh raspberries to decorate

Once all of the cakes (including the brownie cake) have completely cooled, use a serrated knife to carefully split them in half horizontally. There will be 6 layers total.
Place one layer of chocolate cake on a cake board or serving dish. Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip with the Nutella buttercream. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the outer edge of the cake. Fill the center of the buttercream “dam” with 3 to 4 tablespoons of raspberry jam. Smooth out the jam with an offset spatula.
Top the raspberry filling with a second layer of cake. Dollop on about ¾ cup of Nutella buttercream and spread until smooth with an offset spatula.
Place one of the brownie cake layers on top and repeat with the Nutella buttercream dam and raspberry filling. Place the second brownie cake layer on top. Dollop on about ¾ cup of Nutella buttercream and spread until smooth with an offset spatula.
Place another cake layer on top and repeat with the Nutella buttercream dam and raspberry filling. Finally, place the last cake layer on top.
Crumb coat the cake with buttercream and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
If the cake starts to get too soft at any point during the stacking process, place the whole thing in the fridge or freezer until the buttercream firms up slightly. You may also crumb coat the sides of the cake as you stack by spreading a thin layer of buttercream around the cake to ensure that none of the raspberry jam leaks out.
Frost the crumb coated cake with Nutella buttercream until smooth. Chill for about 10 minutes.
Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, add the chocolate drip around the edges of the cake. The glaze needs to be room temperature but still liquid.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the remaining buttercream. Pipe spirals of buttercream around the top edge of the cake. Place a fresh raspberry on top of each spiral.

Serving and Storage:

This is one tall cake! It can be served and stored at room temperature for 24 hours (so long as it is not too hot).
If the buttercream gets too soft, then I recommend placing the cake in the refrigerator before slicing. Since the brownie layers are more dense than the cake and fillings, you will be met with some resistance when slicing. Carefully slice the cake with a large, sharp knife. Apply a bit more pressure to cut through the brownie layers, but not so much that the other layers squish.
Store leftovers wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Baker’s Notes:

I made the brownie cake in one pan, then split it into two layers. The bake time is quite long, so you may want to try baking it in two separate pans. Adjust the bake time accordingly.
Be careful not to overbake the brownie layer. Unlike a cake, you want to remove it from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out and has plenty of moist crumbs attached (but not raw batter).
For more chocolate drip tips, please click here. I did not pour the glaze into the center of the cake.