chocolate and hazelnut cake

Well hello there. A lot has happened in a year. I didn't intend to abandon blogging but crap happened and I didn't deal with it very well, I certainly didn't want to talk about it and I pretty much spiralled into a pit of negativity and sadness. I still don't want to talk about it but I feel ready to dip my toes back in here now that I've vaguely touched on it. I've missed using this space and having a handy creative archive to refer to.

However, I have come to the decision that I want to return this blog to just baking and crockery as it has got to a stage where I'm not happy posting my sewing and knitting projects here anymore. I'm aware I've mentioned moving them to a separate space for at least 4 years, but this is the year where I feel I need to make the change. If/when the move happens, I'll let you know here.

In the meantime you can still find my knitting projects on Ravelry and I recently joined The Foldline where I've reviewed a few sewing projects from the last year.

So without further ado, CAKE. We're still here for cake, right?

This particular cake, inspired by Ferrero Rochers, was baked for my sister-in-law's birthday last April. I'd definitely describe it as a "grown up" cake. The hazelnut sponges were rich and textured and the chocolate ganache coating was rich and luxuriously cocoa-y. I'm glad I sandwiched the sponges together with a chocolate butter icing and used it to pipe decorative swirls on top as the sweetness of the butter icing really lifted the cake.

On the whole there was a lovely balance of textures and flavours. You certainly didn't need a large slice to feel full and satisfied either.

Somewhat amazingly, I appear to have kept a physical note of what I used for the sponges. The rest of the details however are a hazy memory, but this is roughly what I did:

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

sponges:

250g softened butter

250g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

150g hazelnuts (roasted, skinned and ground.) I bought a couple of bags of already roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts then whizzed them up in my small food processor to ground them up further. 

chocolate ganache:

I have no idea what recipe I used for this, but I definitely used double cream with a combination of good quality milk and dark chocolate with high cocoa percentages. I have a funny feeling I may have incorporated melted butter into the ganache at the end...? Who knows. If you want to recreate this cake I recommend referring to a favourite chocolate ganache recipe or picking one of the many kicking about on the internet. It's safer than following my vague memory.

chocolate butter icing:

I likely mixed this up without following a recipe, so I recommend following whatever chocolate butter icing you like best. I personally really like the one in the Hummingbird Bakery's Cookbook.

topping:

another bag of roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts

a box of Ferrero Rocher

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. 

In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the ground hazelnuts, flour and baking powder. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture along with the vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes until well risen and springs back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing beat the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Use to fill the cake and put the remaining icing in a piping bag with a 1M nozzle to use later.

After sandwiching the sponges together with butter icing, coat the sides and top with the ganache. It doesn't matter if it isn't smooth. Press chopped hazelnuts onto the side of the cake (this is messy, admittedly) and scatter them across the top. Finally, pipe 12 decorative swirls of the leftover butter icing on top of the cake and press a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on top of each swirl.

Toblerone cupcakes

I have had this recipe from the Caked Crusader bookmarked for ages. After seeing a few toblerone cupcakes popping up recently on other blogs I knew I had to find an excuse to make them. Then my toblerone loving brother came home for a visit a couple of weeks ago so I finally had the perfect opportunity.

You just know that smooshing (yes, technical term) a 100g bar of toblerone into cupcake batter is going to produce something very tasty. By far superior to standard chocolate chips.

 

My brother ended up packing four cupcakes away in his suitcase to take away with him. He definitely approved of this bake.

 

 

I had so much fun photographing these cupcakes. The toblerone triangles made them incredibly photogenic. Usually I don't like cupcake cases which go all see through when baked but I actually thought it looked really pretty on these. It also meant you could strategically pick the cupcake which had the most chocolate chips!

 

 

Once again, apologies to the almond haters. I appear to have been on an almond kick this summer. However I imagine these would still be perfectly tasty without the almond extract in the batter if you still like the flavour of toblerones.

 

The only think I did differently to the Caked Crusader's recipe was the ganache. I followed the ganache Paula from Sweetharts Cakes and Bakes made for her toblerone cupcakes, using plain chocolate instead of dark, but I found it too bitter. Determined to make it work, I added some icing sugar until I was happy with the flavour. I'm not sure if what I produced can still be called a ganache, but it was rich and super chocolatey.

 

Was the recipe worth the wait? Yes. Thanks Caked Crusader!