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For the brownies:
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Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and set to the side.
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Melt butter and cocoa powder in the microwave, very slowly. You will want the cocoa to completely blend cocoa with the butter until it is smooth. Heat it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.
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When it's melted and silky, stir in sugar, Nutella and melted chocolate. Whisk in the eggs, then add the flour and salt. Fold to combine. Make sure there are no lumps! Pour into your cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. Start the mousse while it's baking. When it's done remove it from the oven and set aside on a cooling rack.
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For the mousse:
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In a medium sized steel bowl, add cream, espresso powder and hazelnut extract. Whisk until the espresso powder is dissolved. Add the Nutella and using an electric beater, whisk until soft peaks form. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Do not over-beat though. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours. Prepare the Nutella glaze now..
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For the glaze:
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Add powdered sugar, Nutella and milk into a medium size bowl. Whisk together until smooth. You can now prepare your hazelnut meringues.
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For the meringues:
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Preheat your oven to 350 F. In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts until finely ground, almost like a flour.
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In a medium size heatproof bowl, combine egg whites and pinch of salt.
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Set your bowl of egg whites over, but not in, a pot with 2 inches of simmering water (like a double boiler) and cook, whisking constantly until warm to the touch. It will take around 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and using an electric mixer, add in the powdered sugar and beat on high until very thick and glossy. Fold in your ground hazelnuts.
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Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Grab a pastry bag, fitted with a medium sized round pastry tip and fill with the meringue mix. Using the pastry bag, form the meringues into small circles, around 3 by 3-inches. This mix should make around 6 meringues of this size. Bake until cracked on top, around 19 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set on a cooling rack. Keep the oven on.
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Allow meringues to cool. Now make your candied hazelnuts.
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For the candied hazelnuts:
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Begin by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a medium size saucepan over high heat, combine hazelnuts, sugar and water. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent sugar from burning. Continue to cook until the sugar is caramel colored, around 7 to 10 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat.
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Quickly pour the nuts onto the parchment paper and spread out with a rubber spatula. Place in the oven for 3 minutes and then remove it from the oven and set it on a cooling rack. Let the candied hazelnuts sit and cool until the sugar has completely hardened. Once it has hardened, break the candied hazelnuts into pieces, whatever size you like!
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For the assembly:
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1. First start off with the cooled Nutella brownie. Using either plating rings or cake rings (I use 3 by 3 size but you can of course use 4 by 4 or whatever size you like) cut out as many rounds as you can. Using a serrated knife carefully cut the brownie forms into two layers. Set one layer aside, leaving the other bottom layer right where it is!
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2. Take the Nutella mousse out of the refrigerator and spoon some onto the bottom brownie layer. It shouldn't flow over the whole cake. Using a spatula spread mousse over the brownie, leaving an inch or so around the edges of the brownie bare (when you put the final brownie layer on top, it will naturally push some of the mousse further.)
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3. Place one of your hazelnut meringues on top of the Nutella mousse layer. Spread with another layer of Nutella mousse.
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4. Carefully put the top brownie layer over the mousse layer. Repeat with the remaining brownies, meringues and mousse. Plate them as desired. Pour some of Nutella glaze over the brownie and top with some of the candied hazelnuts. Drizzle with a little more of the Nutella glaze. Serve and enjoy! Buon appetite!
