Chocolate and Hazelnut Cakes

. May, 2016
Photography by Claire Aldous.
Chocolate and Hazelnut Cakes

These rich, moist cakes are topped with lashings of cream and warm chocolate sauce.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

Cakes
85 grams roasted hazelnuts
100 grams gluten-free biscuits, roughly broken
115 grams butter, very soft but not melted
½ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 x size 7 eggs (large)
120 grams dark chocolate, melted
Chocolate sauce
200 ml cream
4 tablespoons golden syrup
150 grams dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
40 grams butter, diced
1 tablespoon whiskey or another favourite tipple, optional
a 6-hole Texas muffin tin, bases lined with a circle of baking paper
To serve

¾ cup cream, softly whipped
extra chopped hazelnuts, optional

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake.

Put the hazelnuts and biscuits in a food processor and finely grind.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Add the nut mixture and the melted chocolate and gently mix to combine.

Spoon the mixture evenly between the tins and smooth the tops.

Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins.

Chocolate sauce: Put the cream and golden syrup in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to combine. 

Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the butter and whiskey to make a smooth glossy sauce.

To serve: Slice a ½ cm thick top off each cake.

Place the bases on serving plates and top with a good spoonful of cream and a few chopped hazelnuts.

Replace the tops on an angle and dust with icing sugar.

Serve each cake with a small jug or glass of warm sauce for pouring. Leftover sauce will keep, covered and refrigerated for two weeks.

Pantry note: I used a gluten-free gingernut biscuit from the supermarket. If you're not gluten-free, you can use regular biscuits of any flavour, but not one with a cream filling.