No Bake Nutella Cheesecake

 

 

The original version of Nutella was made in little loafs wrapped in foil so that it could be sliced and placed on bread for mothers to make sandwiches for their children.  But many children, as you can imagine, would throw away the bread and only eat the Nutella.  This is when they decided to make it into a spreadable version and is the Nutella that we all know and love today.  Two of my favorite people are Nutellaholics.  You know who you are.  This recipe is for you and the rest of the Nutella lovers out there.  The past two days I have been testing out cheese cake recipes.  I take 2 slices, one for me and one for Cameron (hehe) and then send the rest to work with Will.  It's called portion control!  Let's see if this one even makes it out of the house. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups chocolate graham crackers such as teddy grahams, crushed

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts any kind, i used pecans

1/4 cup butter melted

1 tsp vanilla, divided

2 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 jar (13 oz) hazelnut spread such as Nutella

1 tub (8oz) extra creamy whipped topping

Make the crust:  mix graham crumbs, nuts, butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until well blended and then press evenly onto bottom of a 9 inch pie pan.  Place in fridge. 

Make the filling:  Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together in a large bowl until blended.  Add the hazelnut spread and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  Mix well and then stir in the whipped topping.  Spoon it gently into the crust.  

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  This is enough cheesecake for about 10 people. 

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe is from Bon Apetit magazine.  Why I don't have a subscription to Bon Apetit magazine is beyond me.  I need to get one right away!  The first time I made this cake was for Wills birthday.  Oh my gosh was it ever good.  It is a pretty big cake so I ended up giving a huge slice to Bailey's preschool teacher Ms. Mary.  The next day she asked if I could make one for her for Mother's Day.  What a compliment!  Knowing how good this cake is, it was really hard to make it and not eat any of it.  I might have to make it again for Father's Day. This cake is making it hard for me to be high school skinny again!!  Give yourself plenty of time to make this cake.  You want to make sure that the cake is completely cooled and the frosting is cold before you start adding the frosting and layering the cake. 

For the frosting:
2  8-ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature (don't use low fat, no fat)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

For the cake:
3 cups cake flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
7 large eggs
2 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
6 TBSP plus 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam
2 1/4 lbs strawberries, hulled, sliced (about 6 cups), divided

To make the frosting put a small/medium bowl in the freezer to chill. In a separate large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in sugar, then jam. Remove that chilled bowl from the freezer and beat cream in that chilled bowl until peaks form.

 Fold whipped cream into frosting. Cover; chill for a couple of hours until it’s firm enough to spread. (If you are in a hurry, you could put the frosting in the freezer to chill quickly.) 

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 2-inch high sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add sour cream, and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture in three additions, beating to blend after each addition. Divide batter into prepared pans.  Spread the batter so that it is even in the baking pans.  

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, check the cake at 50 minutes and if not done check again at 60 minutes. Remove cakes from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the pans, then turn cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.  You can place the cakes into the freezer for 30 minutes if you are in a hurry. Slice the strawberries while the cake is cooling.

Using a serrated knife, carefully divide each layer in half horizontally. Place one half, cake side down, on a cake plate.

Spread 3 TBSP of strawberry jam over the cake, then spread 3/4 cup of the frosting over the jam. Arrange 3/4 cup of the sliced strawberries on top of the frosting in a single layer. Repeat two more times with cake layer, jam, frosting, and strawberries.

Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread two cups of frosting over the top and sides of the cake in a thin layer, then frost with remaining frosting.  This recipe makes a very big and beautiful 4-layer cake.