Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Christmas is in just a few days, so I've got a delicious chocolate cake recipe for you.This festive Ferrero Rocher chocolate cake with peppermint icing and chocolate ganache is perfect for the holidays! It's got moist chocolate cake with a hint of hazelnutty goodness, rich peppermint icing, and a chocolate ganache to top the whole thing off with. It's a perfect addition to any holiday meal.

I made this recipe for a Christmas party last year and it was a huge hit! But, it is a bit on the sweet side with all of the chocolate and sweet peppermint flavor. If you're like me then you'll love it!

Without any further ado, here's the recipe:

For the cake:

3/4 cup softened butter

3 eggs at room temp.

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup Nutella

12 crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolates

Grease a round baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix all of the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with a mixer and slowly add in the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in the vanilla and peppermint extract. Your batter should look something like this:

Add the Nutella and beat. Add in the dry ingredients and beat. Add half of the milk, beat, and add the other half. The batter should look like this now:

Lastly, fold in the finely chopped or crushed Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

Fill the baking pan halfway and bake for 30-35 minutes.

For the icing:

1 cup softened butter

8oz softened cream cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint extract

2lb powdered sugar

3-4 Tbsp milk

Red food coloring

Mix the butter, cream cheese, salt, and a few drops of food coloring in a bowl. Add in peppermint and vanilla extract. Add 1/4 of sugar and beat, add 1 Tbsp of milk and beat. Repeat until all of the sugar is mixed. Your frosting should look like this:

Frost the cake and chill for 30 minutes.

For the ganache:

1 cup of Dark chocolate chips

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of nutella

Put chocolate chips and whipping cream in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until all of the chocolate has melted and mixed well into the whipping cream. Add Nutella and mix well. Immediately pour onto the middle of the cake, use a spatula to evenly spread out the ganache all the way to the edges of the cake. Let the mixture pour over the sides. After the ganache has cooled, garnish the top with crushed candy canes and/or decorations made with fondant.

And there you have it! You'll have people coming back for seconds, and thirds, with this recipe!