Nutella Chocolate Cake

Just realised I've been away from the blog for over a month. Apologies to all my blogging friends that I haven't been to your blog lately, will catch up on visiting soon.

I've always wanted to make this cake but I certainly wasn't going to eat this all up by myself - one jar of nutella and 6 eggs, imagine the calories! 

The opportunity to make cake came over Easter as I was a hosting a cell group party at my place. There are few words to describe this cake - moist and nutty doesn't seem to do justice to this absolutely delicious cake. 

Every bite is rich and almost pudding like, with the ground hazelnut adding the most flavours aside from the nutella. It goes perfectly with the chocolate ganache and toasted hazelnuts. 

Three quarter of the cake was gone in no time and I gave the last quarter to my neighbour to prevent myself from stealing anymore slices. 

Nutella Chocolate Cake (9 inch)
Nigella Lawson Recipe

Ingredients

for the cake

• 6 large eggs (separated)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 125 grams soft unsalted butter
• 400 grams nutella (1 large jar)
• 1 tablespoon frangelico (or rum or water)
• 100 grams ground hazelnuts
• 100 grams dark chocolate (melted)

for the icing

• 100 grams hazelnuts (peeled weight) (I used 20 grams coarsely grounded hazelnuts)
• 125 ml double cream
• 1 tablespoon frangelico (or rum or water)
• 125 grams dark chocolate

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Frangelico (or whatever you're using), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts.
• Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time.
• Pour into a 23cm/9 inch round greased and lined springform tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.
• Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so that they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. Transfer to a plate and let cool. This is imperative: if they go on the ganache while hot, it'll turn oily. (Believe me, I speak from experience.) If your hazelnuts have skins on then after toasting in the frying pan transfer them to a slightly dampened tea towel and rub them while they are still warm to remove the skins.
• In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur or water and chopped chocolate, and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake. Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece.
• Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and dot thickly with the whole, toasted hazelnuts. If you have used Frangelico, put shot glasses on the table and serve it with the cake.

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (June 2014 Event: Butter) organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Jozelyn Ng (Spice Up My Kitchen).