Quinn’s birthday cake this year is a familiar theme: chocolate and hazelnut. That’s been the common factor of his birthday dessert for the last couple of years. I’m certainly not complaining because that is one of my favorite flavor combinations.
This year’s dessert comes from Perfect Cakes by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Nick Malgieri. If you’re not familiar with him, go immediately and check out some of his books.
Nick calls this cake Capriccio Alle Nocciole, but Hazelnut Cake works just fine for me. He describes it as a “buttery Swiss hazelnut cake.” With two sticks of butter and six ounces of hazelnuts in the recipe, that is certainly an apt description. There is some chocolate in this cake, but it is really all about the hazelnuts.
As much as I like hazelnuts, though, I felt that this cake was best served warm with a little chocolate syrup. Then again, I am a sucker for all things chocolate, so that shouldn’t come as a shock.
Quinn picked another winner this year with this cake. He certainly has had luck sticking with one of his preferred flavor combinations. Check back this time next year. I will probably be telling you about another chocolate and hazelnut dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/2 cup ground unblanched hazelnuts, divided into 1/2 cup and 1 cup
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely grated
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan. Coat with 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.
Beat butter and 6 tablespoons of sugar on medium speed of a heavy-duty mixer. Mix until soft and light, about 5 minutes. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground hazelnuts, and chocolate. Add half of the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Mix on low speed just until blended. Beat in the milk. Beat in the remaining flour mixture.
Beat egg whites on medium speed with a mixer’s whisk attachment. Mix until white and opaque and just beginning to hold a shape. Increase speed to medium-high and add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar in a stream. Continue mixing until soft peaks form.
Stir one-third of egg whites into batter. Then, fold in remaining egg whites.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Then, remove cake from pan and cool completely on rack.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Perfect Cakes.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Mon Dieu! This looks amazing. Like Nutella in cake form. I must bake this very soon.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Ooooo, that looks wonderful and I have that book!!! Yay, I must try it. Thanks for sharing.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Aaah. I gave up Nutella two months ago, and have been very good at resisting anything that might spark a craving. But I think I’m going to have to make an exception for this cake.
Looks beautiful. Always great to see a post from you!
April 26th, 2010 at 10:34 am
This cake looks like a serious winner! There is nothing better than the chocolate/hazelnut combo. Quinn definitely knows what he is doing, choosing this recipe.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Chocolate and hazelnut is a favorite combo of mine as well. What a delicious cake this is!
April 26th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Wow this looks incredible!
April 26th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I clipped this one…can’t wait to try it.
April 26th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Como siempre, increibles los pasteles que nos traes. Ya se echaba de menos una receta. Un saludo
April 26th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I’ve never been a fan of Hazelnut before, but this looks too yummy to pass up!
Thanks!!!
April 26th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
hazelnut sounds delicious!
April 27th, 2010 at 2:40 am
I always await Quinn’s birthday cakes, since the combination is a favorite of mine, as well as the boyfriend’s!! I earned a lot of brownie points through these cakes
April 27th, 2010 at 5:25 am
this looks and sounds amazing! My 2 oldest sons LOVE this combo…
thanks for the recipe
April 27th, 2010 at 5:52 am
I need to use hazelnut more often in baking! This sounds amazing.
April 27th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Do you think ground almonds (aka “almond meal”) could be subbed for the ground hazelnuts?
April 27th, 2010 at 9:33 am
T. Martin, I think that almonds would work. If you try it, let me know how you like it.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:18 am
Great recipe. I can’t wait to try it. Thank you very much for sharing!!!
April 28th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I am so impressed with this cake! Even though hazelnuts and chocolate are the best combo ever, I have not seen many cakes like this! Your photo is also very beautiful.
April 29th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Cake is my favorite.I like all kinds of tastes.But I cannot make cake.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
What a great combination. Looks so delish!
April 30th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Wow, this looks awesome together. Yum!
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Lovely, and reading the comments am tempted to try this with ground almonds.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:57 am
Mmmm drool, I cant believe how tasty this looks
its making me hungry hehe.
May 8th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Cool! I love it!
This is perfect for desserts on “Mother’s Day”.
Can I add raisins on this cake recipe? or something like toppings?
May 9th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Jenny, I’m not a raisin fan, so I don’t have a lot of experience baking with them. Toppings are definitely good though. Just the chocolate sauce I used on it was fabulous.
May 10th, 2010 at 11:17 am
this looks delicious!! i love anything with hazelnut mmmm!
May 11th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Love and not a big fan of hazelnut. By the way, I have made the Max Brenner fudge brownies numerous times and they have always gone over with a GIANT BANG!
I gave you a blog award on my site along with a link. Hope to send some new traffic your way!
http://tvfoodanddrink.com/2010/05/a-blog-award-for-tv-food-and-drink/
May 13th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
This looks delicious! I will definitely be trying it soon!
http://amusebouche-caitlin.blogspot.com/
May 29th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Literally drooling on my keyboard!
Laura
http://culinarycravings.net/
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Oh yummy! I love hazelnut cake! Thanks for sharing this! Awesome pictures too!
June 11th, 2010 at 5:23 am
I never thought of pairing salt and chocolate until I tasted the salted caramel hot chocolate at Starbucks. Salted brownies may be next on my list to try. Thanks for posting this!
http://www.gourmetcookingonabudget.blogspot.com
June 11th, 2010 at 5:23 am
Oops, I clicked on the wrong recipe to comment on. This looks good too!
August 14th, 2010 at 8:09 am
One of my favorite cakes mmmmmmmm
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 am
Happy Birthday to Quinn.. love the cake
October 25th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Thank you so much for posting this! I’ve made this twice already- last year for a fundraiser (they sold out!), this year for entertaining. Both times I made cupcakes instead of the cake, and topped them with chocolate ganache, and a hazelnut for the finish. The only minor problem for me was the sugar (I’m leaving out my troubles with making perfect ganache). I believe one cup is more than 12 tablespoons. I think I caught it last year in time, but not this time around. It tasted slightly under-sweetened, so I countered it with extra thick ganache on top. We still loved the result, and they tasted even better the next day. (My dear neighbor claimed it was the best cupcake she ever tasted)
PS: I’ve made the “Zimtsterne” that you posted, too, (with great success) and think yours are extra gorgeous.
March 17th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Wait!! I just went to make the recipe and noticed that the ingredients list calls for 1 cup of sugar, but the instructions call for 12 TBSP total, 6 with the butter/yolks, and 6 with the whites. 1 cup = 16 TBSP. Which is it?? :-O
March 18th, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Jennifer, I just looked back at the original recipe, and it should be 12 tablespoons. I’ve corrected the recipe. Thank you!
May 22nd, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Im making whoopie pies this weekend and i wanted to try a hazelnut cake with nutella frosting, will this hazelnut cake work for whoopie pies or will it be too dense?
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Karen, I’ve never tried making whoopie pies, but my instinct says this cake wouldn’t work well for them.
March 21st, 2013 at 1:44 pm
I wanted to make this cake using 2 9inch cake pans and have nutella in the center and choc genache on top. will this work ?
March 21st, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Hi, Val. I’ve never tried making this cake in round layers. I feel like it will work, but you’ll likely need to decrease the baking time. You may also want to refrigerate the finished cake for a bit to let it set.