Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake

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Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.







I was asked to make a chocolate cake for a friend's get together, but I can never make up my mind which recipe to make. This is one of my favourites, and as I found a bag of ground hazelnuts in the supermarket the other day, decided to make this version, but using my bundt mould.

Make sure you grease the mould thoroughly - I use the spray.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

In a bowl over simmering water melt - 150g butter and 150g dark chocolate. Take bowl off the heat and add 4 egg yolks, 175g caster sugar, 80g ground hazelnuts, 100g plain flour, another 50g dark chocolate which has been chopped up and a pinch of salt. Beat it all together.
Whip the 4 egg whites till stiff then add gently into the mixture.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 50 mins.
For the icing:
Chop 100g dark chocolate and melt it over water with 50g of butter. Pour it over the warm cake and leave to set.



A good tip for chopping up the 50g of chocolate is to put it in a polybag and hit with a rolling pin! Stops the pieces flying everywhere!
The cake has a lovely texture and you can really taste the hazelnuts. The chocolate pieces melt in your mouth. A lovely occasion cake with the added bonus of a really simple icing.






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































In a bowl over simmering water, melt 150g butter and 150g dark chocolate. Take bowl off and add 4 egg yolks, 175g caster sugar, 80g ground hazelnuts, 100g plain flour, 50g dark chocolate chopped up and a pinch of salt.
Beat the 4 egg whites till stiff and fold into the mixture.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 50mins. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

For the icing:
Chop 100g dark chocolate and melt it over water with 50g of butter. Pour it over the warm cake and leave to set.









One trick I learnt was to put the chocolate bar in a poly bag and tap it with a rolling pin to break it up. I usually end up with bits of chocolate everywhere!

The cake has a great chocolate flavour, and you can really taste the hazelnuts. The chunks of chocolate had just about kept their texture, but then melted in your mouth. I like the easy way you decorate it - no faffing with glacé icing or buttercream - just pour the chocolate over.

Comments

Suelle said…
Hi Snowy - this is one of my favourite flavour combinations! It looks lovely! Happy Christmas!

PS - if you look at you blog post, there seems to be a huge white space in the middle of the post, then some repeated writing right at the bottom.
21/12/18 3:19 am
Phil in the Kitchen said…
Hazelnut and chocolate are a fine combination. Looks lovely. Have a great Christmas.
22/12/18 12:43 pm
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