October 25, 2019

Chocolate hazelnut cake

This incredible cake consists of a soft and chocolaty brownie, a creamy hazelnut cream, crispy hazelnut meringue and a delicious chocolate glaze. It‘s perfect for any festive occasion or simply to satisfy your cake cravings. And I can assure you, a piece of this insane combination of soft cream, chocolaty taste and aromatic hazelnuts is definitely worth trying (even if it takes a little more time to make).

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

The chocolate dough of the cake is similar to a brownie dough; soft and still creamy inside. This makes the dough juicy and there is no need to soak it with any liqueur or juice. I used dark chocolate for the dough because it is simply more aromatic and more intense in taste.

In order to give the cake a slightly crunchy texture, the cake has two meringue shaped like circles which are layered alternately with the chocolate dough. The meringue slices consist of a whipped egg white-sugar mixture and hazelnut pieces for the intensive taste. This mixture is dried in the oven at medium temperature; if possible, it should remain in the oven for 1,5 – 3 hours to make it crispy and hard.

Between the chocolate dough and the hazelnut meringue is always a soft butter cream with an incredible hazelnut taste. The butter cream consists of a hazelnut praliné (hazelnuts caramelised and then processed into a creamy paste), a traditional butter cream and an Italian-style whipped egg white-sugar mixture for the softness in the cream.

Finally, the cake is topped with a creamy chocolate glaze made of dark chocolate and cream. I used the drip style, which means that the glaze is pushed over the edges of the cake with a spoon to make it running down the sides like drops. For a further garnish I squirted some florets with the remaining hazelnut cream and topped them with halved hazelnuts and grated dark chocolate.

The cake should be stored in the refrigerator and it can be kept for up to 4 days. However, it is preferable to remove the cake from the fridge half an hour before eating it to let it warm up to room temperature. Thanks to that the butter cream and the chocolate glaze can become soft and creamy.

If you try the recipe, I would be happy if you give me a feedback and if you have any questions, I am also available to answer them. If you want to share the recipe or your homemade dish on social media with your friends, I would be very grateful if you tag me (Instagram @flavour.dreams) and set the hashtag #flavourdreams.

Print Recipe

Chocolate hazelnut cake

with a soft brownie, a creamy hazelnut cream, a crispy hazelnut meringue and a chocolate glaze

Author: Lena

Ingredients

Hazelnut meringue:

6 egg whites at room temperature
300 g white sugar
5 g vanilla sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
75 g hazelnuts lightly chopped

Brownie batter:

2 eggs
150 g flour
75 g cocoa powder unsweetened
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
150 g butter melted
220 g white sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
200 ml milk

Hazelnut praliné:

125 g hazelnuts
75 g white sugar
pinch salt
25 ml water
5 g butter

Hazelnut butter cream:

6 egg yolks
220 g white sugar
90 ml water
5 g vanilla sugar
250 g butter at room temperature
3 egg whites
½ tsp lemon juice

Chocolate glaze:

150 g cream
200 g dark chocolate

Instructions

Hazelnut meringue:

Preheat the oven to 95 degrees Celsius or 203 degrees Fahrenheit. Start to whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt at medium speed. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon juice slowly in several parts. Then you can set the mixer to full speed and beat everything for 10 minutes. When the mixture has a firm consistency and it doesn't disintegrates anymore, you can fold in the chopped hazelnuts and pour everything into a icing bag with a large round
opening. Make two circles with the piping bag, with the same diameter as the cake (in this case 22 cm).
The Meringue circles need to dry in the oven for 1. 5 to 3 hours (depending on the time available) until they are hard and crispy inside.

Brownie batter:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lightly grease a cake tin with the diameter of 22 cm with softened butter.
Melt the butter with the sugar in a water bath until the sugar crystals have dissolved. Then add all the other ingredients and stir briefly; only until everything has mixed well. Pour the dough into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.

Hazelnut praliné:

Place the hazelnuts in the oven together with the brownie batter and roast them for 7 minutes to brown them slightly and give them an aromatic taste.
In a pot boil the water with the sugar at 120 degrees Celcius or 250 degrees Fahrenheit and then add the warm nuts and the salt. Let everything caramelise for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar mass turns brown and sticks to the nuts. Then turn off the heat and add the butter.
Pour the mixture into a strong mixer and mix everything for 3 – 5 minutes until a creamy paste is formed. Don't forget to always clean the edges of the mixer from the mixture and to add it back to the cutting knife so that everything becomes creamy.

Hazelnut butter cream:

For the butter cream, lightly whip all the egg yolks with the vanilla sugar. Meanwhile, boil 120g sugar with 30g water to a sugar sirup. Slowly let the sugar water flow in a thread into the egg mass at high speed of the stirring machine you and let everything beat frothy for 10 minutes until it has cooled down. Add the soft butter and the hazelnut praliné and beat until it gets a smooth mixture. Put the butter cream aside for a moment.
Prepare an Italian meringue for the butter cream: Boil 100g sugar with 30g water to a sugar sirup, in the mean time whip the egg whites with a ½ tsp lemon juice in the stirring machine at high speed. Add the sugar sirup slowly in a thread and beat the mixture until it cooled down and it does not collapse anymore.
Take the butter cream and carefully fold the Italian meringue in three parts into it.

Chocolate glaze:

Put a bowl with cream and chocolate chopped in pieces for 3 minutes in the microwave or in a water bath until the chocolate is melted. Stir everything well into a creamy glaze.

Finish the cake:

Cut the chocolate cake in half to have two thinner chocolate cakes.
Start to layer everything: first a brownie cake, then spread a small part of the butter cream over it, put a meringue on it, spread again some cream over and repeat this whole step again. Put some cream on top of the cake and spread it flat. Coat the sides of the cake with the rest of the cream (possibly leave some cream for the decoration too), fill the holes and smooth everything with a flat palette.
Spread the cold chocolate galze on the cake, smooth it down nicely and let it run down the edges with a spoon to form drops.
For garnishing the cake, fill the rest of the butter cream in a icing bag with a star-shaped spout and make some flowers with it on the top. Decorate it with halved hazelnuts and grated dark chocolate.