Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180 (350f) and prep three 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper.

Step 2

Into a big bowl, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix well with a whisk until combined.

Step 3

Add the eggs, oil, Nutella, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Mix well until combined.

Step 4

Add the kosher salt and the hot coffee, mix well until the batter is smooth.

Step 5

Divide the mixture into three 8-inch baking pans, we suggest using cake strips for even baking. (weight the batter for better results) and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.

Step 6

Into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.

Step 7

Add half of the powder sugar and the cocoa powder and carefully mix until combined.

Step 8

Add the other half of the powder sugar and mix until smooth.

Step 9

Add the Nutella to the mixture and mix until well combined and smooth.

Step 10

Melt dark chocolate and heavy cream in a small to medium mixing bowl in the microwave for about 50 seconds.

Step 11

Let the chocolate and the cream sit for 10 minutes for the chocolate to melt, then mix until the chocolate ganache is smooth and silky.

Step 12

Pipe a small dollop of the frosting on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot.

Step 13

Pipe 1/3 of the frosting on top of the cake layer and spread an even layer.

Step 14

Top with the second cake layer and spread another layer of frosting, we like piping the frosting on top of the cake layers, and smooth it out with a straight spatula.

Step 15

Repeat with the third cake layer, and frost the entire cake with a crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes, and frost the cake with the rest of the frosting.

Step 16

For decoration, we made chocolate ganache, once the ganache is cooled slightly and thickened, we made drips all around the edges of the cake (with a piping bag).

Step 17

Once you are happy with the drips, pour more ganache on top of the cake and lightly smooth it out with a small offset spatula.

Step 18

Then I topped the cake with dollops of Nutella frosting around the edges of the cake.

Step 19

Press chopped hazelnuts into the sides of the cake.