Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Hazelnuts and chocolate are a wonderful flavor combination and on full display in this cake, inspired by a recipe of the same name from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. In this version, I start with the fabulous Reine de Saba for the base cake, substituting hazelnut flour for the almond flour. Swiss Meringue Buttercream flavored with hazelnut paste is used to ice the cake and provides a perfect visual and flavor contrast with the bittersweet chocolate glaze.
This cake, with its rich wintertime flavors, is an excellent example of modifying an existing recipe to create a new dessert. It is best enjoyed at room temperature, where the flavor, texture, and appearance (the glaze dulls in the refrigerator) are at their peak.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
| Yield: 1 8†cake | # of Servings: 10 | Method: Modified Creaming |
Ingredients:
Cake
5 ½ oz (154 g) 61% to 64% chocolate, wafers or broken up
11 tbl (5.5 oz / 156 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup + 2 tbl (4.65 oz / 132 g) sugar
4 egg yolks
½ cup (1.75 oz / 50 g) hazelnut flour1
½ cup + 3 tbl (3.35 oz / 95 g) cake flour, sifted
4 egg whites
â…› tsp salt
¼ cup (1.8 oz / 51 g) sugar
Buttercream
1 recipe Swiss Meringue Buttercream
¼ cup hazelnut paste or Nutella2, to taste
Chocolate Glaze
6 oz chocolate, 55% to 61%, wafers or broken up, melted
4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbl light corn syrup
Garnish:
12 whole blanched hazelnuts
Special tools and equipment required:
- 1 8†by 2†cake pan
- Handheld or countertop mixer
- Instant read thermometer
- Long spatula for glazing the cake
- 1 pastry bag with star tip
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Bring the butter to room temperature
Directions
Baking the cake:
- Melt chocolate. Keep warm
- Using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Scrape down sides of the bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add chocolate to egg yolk mixture, beat to combine. This can also be done by hand with a plastic spatula.
- Add hazelnut flour, beat just until combined.
- In clean bowl, with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites with the salt to soft peaks.
- Slowly add the sugar, and beat until just firm meringue.
- Stir ¼ of the egg whites into the batter to lighten.
- Fold in one half of the remaining whites along with one half of the sifted cake flour. A totally homogenous mix is not necessary at this point.
- Fold in remaining whites and flour just until no streaks of egg whites remain and the flour is combined. The batter with be thick.
- Pour into cake pan and smooth out with a small spatula.
- Bake for between 31 and 33 minutes, until the center of the cake feels firm to the touch and a cake tester inserted into the center has oily chocolate adhering to it. (See pic).
- Place cake pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes.
- Place an 8†cardboard circle, cake plate, or another cooling rack on top and invert. Peel parchment circle off and invert again onto another cardboard circle, cake plate, or cooling rack. Cake should now be right side up.
- Let cake cool to room temperature. Cake will sink slightly in the center as it cools. The cake may be wrapped tightly in plastic film at this point and finished the next day. Or frozen for up to one month. Bring back to room temperature before finishing
Icing the cake:
- Save one cup of the hazelnut buttercream for the rosettes.
- Spread buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. The top should be â…› to ¼â€ thick and should be smooth enough to provide good surface for the glaze. The sides are not critical, there just needs to be enough buttercream to seal the cake.
- Set the cake in the refrigerator long enough for the buttercream to set and firm up slightly, approximately 1 hour. You don’t want the cake too cold when the glaze is applied as it will result in dull glaze.
Glazing the cake:
- Place the chocolate, butter, and corn syrup in a small heavy bottomed saucepan.
- Over very low heat, warm the mixture enough so the chocolate is mostly melted. Do not overheat.
- Remove from the heat and stir with heat-proof spatula or spoon until all the chocolate is melted. Stir with a whisk once or twice just until smooth. Do not whip air into the glaze.
- Let sit, gently stirring occasionally until 90 °F to 92 °F.
- Place the cake on either a cooling rack over a clean work surface or a decorating turntable.
- Pour all the glaze over the top of the cake and with long metal spatula quickly spread the glaze over the entire cake, letting it fall over the sides. The less you work the glaze the shinier it will be.
- Use the glaze that has dripped off the cake to cover any bare spots.
- Lift the rack a half-inch off the surface and drop to help the glaze drip down the sides.
- Let the cake sit until the glaze is set, approximately 1 hour.
Finishing:
- Whip the reserved buttercream until smooth and place in the pastry bag with star tip.
- Pipe rosettes around the cake and top each with a hazelnut. Each hazelnut may be dipped in chocolate for an extra special touch.
Serving and storing the cake:
- The cake may remain at room temperature for several hours, and room temperature is necessary for optimal taste and appearance (shiny glaze).
- Store in the refrigerator overnight and remove for at least 3 hours prior to serving.
Notes:
1 Hazelnut flour is available in stores which carry Bob’s Red Mill products as well as at Trader Joe’s. My favorite is the La Gentile brand which is made from roasted Italian hazelnuts and carried by the online specialty pastry ingredient company, L’Epicerie.
2 L’Epicerie also carries pure, unsweetened La Gentile hazelnut paste. Nutella may be used as a substitute, but it will impart a chocolate flavor in addition to the hazelnut.
