By Elina 
This nutella hazelnut roll cake recipe gives you the cake in the photo: a soft chocolate sponge rolled around a thick spiral of whipped Nutella cream, coated in chocolate and rolled in crunchy toasted hazelnuts. It serves 10, takes about 2 hours 30 minutes including chilling, and the whole thing turns on two moments — baking the sponge just long enough, and rolling it while it is still warm. Get those right and it rolls without a single crack.
Most roll cakes fail for the same reason: the sponge is treated like a regular cake. It is not. A sponge baked even three minutes too long dries out and snaps the moment you bend it, and a sponge left flat on the counter while you make the filling sets in that flat shape and fights you. This recipe builds the roll into the process — the sponge is rolled warm in a towel, cooled in that shape, then unrolled, filled, and rolled again. By the time the filling goes in, the cake already knows how to curl.
Why This Nutella Hazelnut Roll Cake Recipe Works
The sponge has no butter and no oil, which sounds like a risk but is actually the point. A fat-free sponge stays light and flexible, and it soaks up a little moisture from the cream filling instead of turning greasy. The eggs do all the lifting: whipped with sugar for a full five minutes, they trap enough air that the sponge rises without much baking powder, and that airy crumb is what bends instead of breaking.
The filling is whipped cream folded into room-temperature Nutella, not Nutella straight from the jar. Straight Nutella is too stiff to spread thin and it squeezes out the ends when you roll. Whipped into cream, it turns into a mousse that spreads like frosting, holds its shape when sliced, and gives you that clean spiral in the photo. Keep the Nutella at room temperature for this step — cold Nutella seizes the cream and turns grainy.
One note on the brand name: Nutella is named here simply because it is the hazelnut spread used in this recipe. This is a home cook’s recipe, not an official or endorsed Ferrero recipe, and any chocolate hazelnut spread behaves the same way in it.
Ingredients
For the chocolate sponge
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (25 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting the towel
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
For the filling and coating
- 1 jar (13 oz / 370 g) Nutella, divided
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 cup (140 g) toasted hazelnuts, chopped, divided
On the hazelnuts: toast them yourself if you have ten spare minutes — 350°F (175°C) for 8–10 minutes, then rub off the loose skins in a towel. Pre-chopped toasted hazelnuts work fine, but untoasted ones taste flat against the chocolate. And measure the Nutella by weight if you can: 220 g goes into the filling and 150 g into the coating, which is exactly one 370 g jar split between the two jobs.
How to Make It
Step 1: Whip the eggs to ribbon stage. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 10×15-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment, leaving a little overhang on the short sides. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla on high for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is pale, tripled in volume, and falls off the whisk in a thick ribbon that sits on the surface for a second before sinking. Sift the flour, the 1/4 cup of cocoa, the baking powder and the salt over the bowl, and fold gently with a spatula — cut down the middle, scoop under, turn — just until no dry streaks remain. Do not stir: stirring knocks out the air you just spent five minutes building.
Step 2: Spread and bake — briefly. Pour the batter into the lined pan and spread it to the corners in one even layer with an offset spatula. An uneven layer bakes unevenly, and the thin spots are where cracks start. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter. Do not wait for it to look “done” the way a regular cake does — a sponge that looks fully set in the oven is already overbaked for rolling.
Step 3: Roll it warm, in a towel. While the sponge bakes, dust a clean kitchen towel generously with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cocoa. The moment the sponge comes out, run a knife around the edges, flip the pan onto the towel, and peel off the parchment. Starting from a short side, roll the sponge up inside the towel — not too tight, not too loose — and leave it rolled on a rack for 30–45 minutes until completely cool. This is the step that prevents cracking: the sponge cools in a curled shape, so unrolling and re-rolling it later feels natural instead of forced.
Step 4: Fill it. Whip the cold cream to soft peaks — it should hold a peak that flops over, not stand stiff. Add 220 g (about 3/4 cup) of the Nutella, at room temperature, and fold until the mixture is one even light-brown mousse. Unroll the cooled sponge gently, spread the mousse over it in an even layer, leaving a 1-inch bare border along the far short edge, and scatter 1/2 cup of the chopped hazelnuts over the cream. That bare border matters: the filling creeps forward as you roll, and without the gap it squeezes out the end.
Step 5: Re-roll, chill, and coat. Roll the sponge back up snugly, using the parchment underneath to help guide it, and finish seam-side down. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour — this firms the mousse so the coating goes on cleanly and the slices hold their spiral. Warm the remaining 150 g (about 1/2 cup) of Nutella for 15–20 seconds in the microwave, just until pourable, and spread it over the chilled roll. Press the remaining 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts onto the coating all over, top and sides, while it is still soft.
Step 6: Slice and serve. Use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion — pressing straight down squashes the spiral. Wipe the blade clean between cuts for the sharpest spiral, and cut slices about 1 inch thick. Serve at cool room temperature, not fridge-cold: let a slice sit out for 15 minutes and the mousse softens back to silky.
If It Cracks Anyway
Cracks on the outside when rolling. The sponge was almost certainly overbaked, or it cooled flat before rolling. Next time, pull it at 12 minutes and check, and roll it within a minute of leaving the oven. A cracked roll is still salvageable: the coating covers surface cracks completely, and nobody sees them once the hazelnuts go on.
The sponge tears when unrolling. It stuck to the towel, which usually means the towel was under-dusted. Be generous with the cocoa next time, and peel the towel back slowly rather than pulling the sponge. Small tears disappear under the filling.
Filling squeezes out the ends. Too much filling, or no bare border at the far edge. Spread thinner next time and keep that 1-inch gap — you can always serve the extra mousse in a small bowl alongside, which nobody will object to.
The roll is soft and slumps when sliced. It needed a longer chill. An hour is the minimum; two hours is better if your kitchen is warm. If it still slumps, the cream was over-whipped before the Nutella went in — soft peaks, not stiff, is the target.
Storing and Making Ahead
The finished roll keeps 3 days in the fridge, wrapped tightly — the sponge actually gets a little more tender on day two as the mousse settles into it. For making ahead, the filled, uncoated roll freezes beautifully: wrap it in plastic wrap and foil and freeze up to 1 month, then thaw overnight in the fridge and coat with Nutella and hazelnuts the day you serve it. Do not freeze the coated roll — the hazelnuts lose their crunch. Leftover slices are best eaten at cool room temperature, and a slice alongside something lighter, like the fruit salad cheesecake, makes a good dessert spread for a crowd.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If this kind of make-ahead dessert is your thing, the caramel flan is another chilled, sliceable classic that actually improves after a night in the fridge. And for a no-bake chocolate fix, the chocolate peanut clusters use the same pantry — chocolate, nuts, and very little effort — in about 20 minutes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this without hazelnuts?
Yes. Skip the chopped hazelnuts inside and out, and the roll still works — the coating is just smooth Nutella instead of crunchy. For a nut-free crunch, toasted pumpkin seeds pressed onto the coating give a similar texture.
Why did my sponge crack when I rolled it?
Almost always overbaking or rolling it cold. Pull the sponge at 12–14 minutes while it still springs back softly, and roll it in the towel within a minute of leaving the oven. The towel roll teaches the sponge its shape while it is still flexible.
Can I use a different chocolate hazelnut spread?
Yes. Any chocolate hazelnut spread works in the same quantities — the recipe was written around Nutella because it is the most widely available, not because the method depends on the brand.
Can I make this roll cake ahead of time?
Yes — the filled, uncoated roll keeps 3 days refrigerated or 1 month frozen (thaw overnight in the fridge). Coat it with Nutella and hazelnuts on the day you serve it so the nuts stay crunchy.
