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Get the Recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Dinosaur Cake

Servings: 1 eight-inch, 2-layer cake
Author: Michelle Lopez
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Ingredients

For the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup hazelnut meal
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed, strong hot coffee

For the Nutella Buttercream Frosting and Marzipan Dinosaurs:

    (makes around 4 cups, enough for 1 cake)

    • 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 3/4 cup Nutella
    • 4 ounces 70% cacao chocolate, melted and cooled
    • 3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
    • 3 tablespoons whole milk
    • 2 ounces marzipan
    • food coloring of your choice

    Equipment

    • dinosaur cookie cutter (or any cookie cutter of your choice, really!)

    Instructions
     

    For the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

    • Preheat the oven to 350 (F). Prepare two 8 inch round cake pans by spraying generously with cooking spray and lining the bottom of each pan with parchment paper circles. Spray the top of each parchment circle and set aside.
    • In the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup hazelnut meal, 2 cups granulated sugar, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
    • In a separate medium bowl, combine 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup oil, 2 large eggs, and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Whisk together gently until just combined.
    • With the mixer on its lowest speed, slowly add the wet ingredients (from the 3rd step) to the dry ingredients (from the 2nd step). Add 1 cup hot coffee. Continue stirring on low speed until just combined, before stopping the mixer and using a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix into the batter. The batter will seem really liquidy, but this is normal — don't panic and trust the recipe!
    • Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of each cake comes out with a few crumbs and the tops of each cake bounce with a spongelike texture when poked gently with your finger. When the cakes are ready, remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes, before turning out to cool. Remove parchment paper and allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

    For the Nutella Buttercream Frosting

    • In the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Beat on medium-high speed for a minimum of 5 minutes — at the end of the beating period, the butter will have lightened in color and have a fluffy texture.
    • With the mixture still on medium-high speed, add 3/4 cup Nutella all at once and continue beating for another 2 minutes.
    • After 2 minutes, stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and slowly drizzle in 4 ounces melted chocolate.
    • Once the melted chocolate has been fully incorporated, turn the mixer speed down to its lowest setting. Add 3 cups confectioners' sugar one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture has lightened up considerably. Once the confectioners sugar has been completely added, turn the mixer speed back up to medium-high and drizzle in 3 tablespoons whole milk. Continue beating for another minute until creamy and spreadable.

    For the Marzipan Dinosaurs

    • Use your hands to knead a couple drops of yellow food coloring into 2 ounces marzipan until the color has fully incorporated throughout the marzipan.
    • Sandwich the colored marzipan between two layers of wax paper, and use a rolling pin to roll out the marzipan to a rectangle around a 1/8-inch thick. Use your dinosaur cookie cutter to cut out dinosaur shapes from the rolled out marzipan, and press the cutouts gently on to the cake.

    Notes

    Cake recipe adapted from my favorite chocolate cake recipe
    Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!