Devils' Food Cake with Hazelnut Crunch

The delicious combination of chocolate and hazelnut is the Italians answer to peanut butter and jelly, except I'll be honest, I like their pairing better.  Luckily this dynamic duo comes in the form of Nutella, an addicting spread that I cannot trust to have my house for fear that it will be my topping du jour on nearly everything.  I recently wanted to make a cake, to thank the family in the area for all that they did for me while I was in the hospital.  My thankfulness translated into a Devil's Food cake with Hazelnut Crunch, a definite labor of love that was quite possibly the best cake I have ever made.  It combines an incredibly moist chocolate cake that has hints of rich coffee (the recipe calls for it), a hazelnut crunch that is addicting and incorporates rice cereal, nutella and freshly toasted hazelnuts and is topped with a mousse-like frosting that is out of this world. In other words it is death-by-chocolate.  While this cake took a while to bake and put together, it was well-worth it, after all my fiancé and his wonderful family deserve it. If I could have sent this cake to my friends that sent me flowers,  brought me macarons and loads of magazines to my sisters that drove from Boston and all of the people that were praying for me -  I would have made that many cakes.  This cake is for you too, thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  Now, let's eat some cake!

A Few Things: If you are looking for a fantastic topper for ice cream or Greek yogurt, I would recommend just making the Hazelnut Crunch - it is to die for.  I followed this recipe completely, except I omitted the espresso powder.  

*Photography & Styling by Alison