Every January for the last eight years or so, I’ve been baking my own birthday cake. It makes me so happy to whip up something with my very favorite ingredients, and share it with my very favorite people.

A few years ago, I became friends with a cute guy at work. He was kind and funny and super talented. We hit it off, left the friendzone, became a couple, and now I am incredibly lucky to have him as my best friend and husband. Matt’s birthday happens to be two days before mine. So now, I bake us a joint birthday cake, and I couldn’t be happier.

Matt also happens to like Nutella, which I am a little bit obsessed with. Let’s look at: Nutella Crunch Brownies, Nutella Oreo Truffles, Nutella Cream Cheese Brownies, Nutella Muddy Buddies, Dark Chocolate Nutella Cherry Truffles to name a few (there’s a lot more over the years). So when I was brainstorming with him what kind of birthday cake he wants and he said something with Nutella, I knew exactly what I was going to make.
Vanilla cake layers, Nutella filling, whipped dark chocolate Nutella ganache frosting, topped with candied hazelnuts and crushed chocolate wafers. Gold star sprinkles as a bonus. It was as perfect as I imagined it to be.

For those of you who are intimidated by layer cakes, don’t be! It just takes some patience and an extra cake pan or two, but it’s actually pretty simple. And there are lots of tips that have helped me over the years, such as:

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