More than 10 years ago I discovered this cake on my favorite italian food magazine “sale e pepe”.
Absolutely easy to make, nutty and rich in chocolate, this cake became a family classic, loved and requested by Aurora for each her birthday!
The original recipe is without baking powder, but in my version I prefer use just a teaspoon for a lighter cake.
Ingredients:
250 gr. (8.8 oz) toasted hazelnuts – 90 gr. (3 oz) sugar – 3 eggs, separated – 1 tablespoon potato starch – 1 teaspoon baking powder – 300 gr. (10.5 oz) hazelnut&chocolate spread – a pinch of salt – icing sugar
Preheat oven 180°/356 F
Transfer the sugar and hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse until you will obtain a flour; do not overmix in order to avoid the oil spill from the hazelnuts.
In a bowl mix the hazelnuts and sugar with the yolks, the baking powder and the potato starch. You will have a batter cake a little bit hard, but don’t care about this. In a separate bowl whip the whites until fluffy. Use to spoons of whites to soften the batter, then add the rest gradually, mixing gently from the bottom of the bowl to the top.
Transfer the batter in a 20 cm round cake tin, buttered and floured.
Bake for 25/30 minutes.
Take out the cake from the mold and let it cool completely.
Cut the cake horizontally in two layers. Save two spoons of chocolate cream for the decoration and spread the rest between the layers.
Finish your cake with a circle of chocolate cream on the top, some whole hazelnuts and icing sugar.
My daughter’s favorite:hazelnuts & chocolate cake
