What’s for Dessert: Ferrero Rocher Nutella Cheesecake

A combination of Nutella, cheesecake, and Ferrero Rocher chocolate. How can you go wrong with that? For a work dessert party, I recently made this Ferrero Rocher and Nutella Cheesecake. It was a crowd pleaser for sure.

It’s decadent and full of flavor. You can’t go wrong with this one!

This cheesecake didn’t involve pre-baking the crust, and like all my other cheesecake recipes, isn’t difficult to make… but this one had an additional step than most, with the ganache topping… but more on that later.

Here’s how I made this cheesecake:

I started off by lining the bottom of my springform pan with parchment paper. To do that, remove the ring and cover the bottom part (the base) with parchment paper. Fold the excess paper back under the base and put the ring back in its position with the other hand.

For the crust/base of the cheesecake, I used:

2 + 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 cup of Rice Krispies Cereal, slightly crushed
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup of Nutella

I combined the graham cracker crumbs, Rice Krispies cereal, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, I combined the butter and Nutella and microwaved for about 30 to 45 seconds before mixing until both ingredients were well combined. I then poured over the dry ingredients. With a glove on my hand, I mix until everything was evenly combined and then pressed the mixture firmly at the bottom of the pan. Set the springform pan aside on a baking tray.

The next step is the cheesecake filling, for which I used my standard Nutella cheesecake filling:

2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
[about] 1/2 cup of Nutella [or your choice of chocolate-hazelnut spread]

In your food processor, add your cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, Nutella and vanilla extract. Do not over beat the mixture, just beat it until your mixture is smooth.

On top of your crust, pour your cheesecake batter.

Place the cheesecake in the center of the middle oven rack [in the preheated 300 degree oven]. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the center is almost set.

Let your cheesecake cool completely before adding the ganache topping. That means at least a few hours, if not overnight. Do not take it out of the springform pan yet.

For my Nutella and hazelnut ganache topping, you need:

1 + 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of Nutella
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup of roasted hazelnuts, finely chopped

To make the Nutella and hazelnut ganache:

combine the semi-sweet chocolate chips, Nutella, whipping cream and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute, and then stir the mixture to combine. Repeat the process one more time, if needed. At this point, the ganache should be completely smooth, silky and combined.
Take about 1 cup of that ganache into a small bowl and place it in the refrigerator for about two hours … until it has the consistency of thick frosting. You can mix it from time to time to check for consistency. This step, of leaving about a cup of ganache separate before adding the hazelnuts to the mixture is super important because trust me piping thick ganache with chopped hazelnuts is nearly impossible!
Anyways, once you have set some of the ganache aside, add the chopped hazelnuts to the rest of the ganache and stir until well incorporated; pour over the cheesecake and spread it evenly all the way to the edge. Put your cheesecake back in the fridge until the ganache is set. Once the ganache has set on top of the cheesecake, remove the cheesecake from the springform pan.

The last step is the presentation: once the Nutella ganache that you set aside earlier has thickened, use it to decorate the top of your cheesecake and add Ferrero Rocher chocolates on top.