Here at HerFamily HQ we truly believe that Nutella is the stuff of puppies and unicorns and laughing babies, and so when we come across any recipes containing it, we just have to try them out.
Which we did with these little balls of amazingness. And let's just put it like this: With a helluva lot of Nutella and a little bit of elbow grease, you got yourself some delicious, yummy, gooey, hazelnutty, diet-ruining treats – that we fear we will be making again and again and again forever more.
Nutella Crunch Cake Balls
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 chocolate cake from boxed cake mix, prepared according to instructions (or your favorite chocolate cake from scratch)
For the frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup Nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp milk (if needed to thin the icing)
For the assembly:
- 1 package chocolate candy coating (also called almond bark)
- 1 tbsp Nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread
- 1/4 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped
Instructions
For the cake:
- Prepare and bake as instructed. Let cool completely.
For the frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and Nutella until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Carefully add the powdered sugar and mix on low until well incorporated. At this point, add milk if your icing is too thick. It should be on the softer side, similar the consistency of store-bought icing or chocolate ganache.
For the assembly:
- Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.
- In the pan or in a large bowl, use a fork (or your hands) to shred cake into crumbs.
- Add about 1/2 of the icing and mix thoroughly with crumbled cake. Test your “dough” to see if it is sticky enough to roll into a ball without crumbling, almost like Play-doh. Add more icing as needed. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (you could also do this the night before) – it will make it easier to roll into balls.
- Using your hands, roll cake mixture into 1 inch balls. Place on lined baking sheet. When done, place baking sheet in freezer and let cake balls chill for 30 minutes. This step is optional, but it helps the cake balls keep their shape and prevents crumbs from getting in the candy bark and thus, causing lumpy coating.
- While cake balls are chilling, microwave 1/2 a package of chocolate candy bark in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.
- It’s time to dip! Coating cake balls is kind of an art. It takes practice so if your cake balls don’t come out looking perfect don’t worry about it! It took me several tries to develop a successful method. Regardless of what they look like, they’ll still taste magical. Promise.
- Place the cake ball into the bowl of melted candy coating and use a spoon to cover with coating. Lift the cake ball out of the coating with a fork and tap against the rim of the bowl to remove excess.
- Use a toothpick to gently push the cake ball back on to your lined cookie sheet. Make sure you push the cake ball from the bottom so you don’t smudge your coating.
- Once you have dipped all of your cake balls and the coating is dry, microwave one block of candy coating until melted then stir in a large spoonful of Nutella until well combined. Scoop mixture into a plastic bag and snip off a very tiny piece of from one corner. Drizzle the mixture over the cake balls 2 or 3 at a time, sprinkling with chopped hazelnuts while the drizzle is still wet.
- Let dry completely, trim off any excess candy bark and place in candy cups (or mini muffin cups) to serve.
(Recipe via Butterlustblog.com)
