World Nutella Day 2011!! Espresso-coated Nutella Cake Balls with Sea Salt

World Nutella Day 2011 is finally here!!

I have been plotting this recipe for a few weeks…..nutella, dark chocolate, espresso AND sea salt in one little bite…mmmmmmmmmm!! This is the first time I made cake balls – apparently all the rage right now. They were easy and fun – my only complaint is that I ate way too much of everything along the way! I had to taste the cake, then the cake with the nutella, then the chocolate in which to dip the cake balls and of course, the finished product.  Oh my – the combination of the sea salt with the nutella and dark chocolate is, well, oh my.  Yum!  Happy Nutella Day – ENJOY!!

  Check out other tasty Nutella treats at World Nutella Day and our  host’s blogs!!  

World Nutella Day – http://nutelladay.com/

Ms. Adventures in Italy  – http://msadventuresinitaly.com/blog

Bleeding Espress – http://bleedingespresso.com/

Espresso-Dipped Nutella Cake Balls with Sea Salt

Ingredients:

 For the cake (recipe courtesy of Hersheys.com with some espresso powder thrown in):

2 cups Sugar 

1¾ cups Cake Flour

¾ cup Cocoa powder

1½ tsp Baking powder

1½ tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Salt

2 Eggs

1 cup Milk

½ cup Vegetable Oil

2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 tbsp Powered Espresso

1 cup Boiling water

For the cake balls:

16 ounces Nutella 

For the coating:

2 bags of 11.5 ounce Ghiraradelli’s 60% cocoa baking chips

3 tablespoons powdered espresso

Coarse sea salt 

Directions:

Make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour one 13X9X2 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil, espresso powder, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes.
4. Stir in boiling water. Batter will be thin. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.
5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans to wire rack to finish cooling.

Now for the fun part – make the cake balls:

1. After the cake cools, in a large bowl, crumble the cake until it is thoroughly crumbled!
2. Mix in the nutella. Let rest in the fridge for a few hours. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay them out on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Chilll them for several hours.

 

Final step – coat and sprinkle:

1. Melt dark chocolate baking chips in microwave in 30 second intervals stirring in between.
2. When melted, stir in the espresso powder. Dip the balls in the chocolate and lay on wax paper. Sprinkle with the coarse sea salt immediately. Let rest until chocolate is firm.

Happy World Nutella Day 2011!!