Hazelnut Coffee Chocolate Cakes Recipes

HAZELNUT, COFFEE & CHOCOLATE CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the bases of 8 mini loaf or muffin tins, depending on what you have.
• Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray in a single layer. Roast in the oven to 5-10 minutes until golden brown and the skins are peeling off - almost looking burnt but not quite (you want to get the full flavour out of them). Leave to cool, then rub together with a clean tea towel to get most of the skins off.
• Place the skinned hazelnuts in a food processor with the instant coffee and blitz until finely ground.
• Add both sugars, the flour, salt, baking powder and cubed cold butter and blitz a couple of times until breadcrumb consistency and there is no longer any visible butter.
• Transfer to a large bowl. Add the yogurt and eggs and mix to thoroughly combine and there are no lumps or yogurt streaks remaining
• Evenly distribute the batter between the lined tins to about 2/3 full. Tap to level off. Place on a baking tray and cook for 25 minutes, rotating the tray half way through to ensure they cook evenly, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just a few crumbs, the cakes bounce back to touch and are starting to pull away from the sides of the moulds. Allow to cool in the tins for 15 or so minutes before removing to a wire rack (don't leave in too long to avoid them sticking to the tins). Leave to cool completely.

HAZELNUT LATTE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Generously butter two 20cm sandwich tins (ideally about 4.5cm deep or deeper) and line the bases with baking parchment. Put the hazelnuts into a food processor with 2 tbsp of the sugar, then pulse until finely chopped. Don't expect them to go as fine as ground almonds and avoid over-processing, as this can make the nuts greasy.
• Put the butter, milk and coffee powder into a small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Set aside.
• Now start the sponge. Crack the eggs into the bowl of a tabletop mixer, add the rest of the sugar and beat for 5-10 mins (or beat with an electric hand mixer in a large deep bowl for 15-20 mins) or until thick and billowy, and the mixture leaves a trail that holds for a couple of seconds. It is really important that the mixture has thickened, almost doubling in size, in order to achieve a light sponge.
• Mix the cornflour, plain flour and 1/2 tsp salt, and sift onto the whisked mixture. Using a large metal spoon, fold in very carefully. Sprinkle in the ground nuts, then fold these in too. Pour the warm milk mix around the edge of the bowl, and fold this in. Don't rush the folding, and continue with a light lifting and cutting motion until ribbons of liquid stop appearing. Divide the batter between the tins, then bake for 25 mins until risen to the middle and a burnished gold.
• Loosen the sides of the cakes with a palette knife, then cool in the tins on a rack for 20 mins (the cakes will level off, and possibly go a bit wrinkly, but that's normal). Carefully remove from the tins and cool, paper-side down.
• Make the syrup and the frosting while you wait. Put the sugar and 4 tbsp water into a small pan. Bring to the boil and leave for 1 min then take off the heat. Stir in the coffee and alcohol. Beat the mascarpone, hazelnut chocolate spread and coffee together with a wooden spoon, until silky and even.
• To assemble, cut the cold cakes horizontally across the middle, using a long serrated knife. With a pastry brush, dampen the cut surfaces all over with the syrup. Use it all. Put one cake layer onto a plate or stand, cut-side up. Spoon on 3 generous dollops of the frosting, then spread to the edges with a palette knife. The frosting should be about 5mm deep. Repeat with the next two layers. When you come to the final layer, place it cut-side down, so that the top of the cake is smooth. Paddle the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. The layer on the top can be thin. Clean the knife then use it to press a neat ring of nuts into the frosting on the side of the cake. Brush any excess away.
• For the topping, put 3 tbsp of the cream, 1 tsp icing sugar and 1 tbsp milk into a small bowl. Put the rest of the cream, milk and sugar, plus most of the dissolved coffee into a larger bowl. Whip the white cream, then the coffee cream, until they look like soft cappuccino froth, thick but still able to flow from a spoon. Pour most of the coffee cream onto the cake and push it out to cover the top. Whisk a little more coffee into what is left, so that it turns a few shades darker.
• To decorate with a characteristic latte 'tree' shape, load a pointy teaspoon with a little of the white cream. Start at the base of the tree, just right of the centre of the cake. Push the spoon into the coffee cream and let the white cream flow slowly. As it flows, drag the spoon then pull it gently away, to make a leaf-like shape. Repeat with more white cream on the left to make another leaf, then repeat 3-4 times, working up the cake top graduating from large to small leaves. Use the same technique to sweep a couple of arc shapes around the edge of the pattern.
• Use the dark cream to add detail to each leaf - you can paint this on with the tip of a teaspoon or a clean cocktail stick. Use a cocktail stick to drag the points of each leaf up and outwards. Draw a line down from the top of the 'tree' to the bottom to finish. The cake will keep for up to 2 days. Loosely cover any cut edges but avoid covering the cake directly as you could damage the decoration. Serve from the fridge or at cool room temperature.

CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT COFFEE CAKE WITH HAZELNUT-CORNFLAKE CRUMBS

Steps:

• Combine the flour, brown sugar, cornflakes, hazelnuts, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl and mix to combine. Add the butter and mix thoroughly with your fingers or a fork until all of the butter has been evenly distributed and incorporated into the flour. Form into small to medium clumps with your fingers.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour, beating until just incorporated.
• Spoon half of the cake batter (it will be very thick) into the prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Dollop the chocolate-hazelnut spread on top and carefully smooth with the spatula. Spoon the remaining cake batter on top and smooth the top. Sprinkle on the crumb topping.
• Bake until the cake and topping are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan 20 minutes, then invert onto a plate and re-invert onto a rack to cool completely. When the cake is cool, dust with confectioners? sugar.

HAZELNUT CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the springform pan by coating it in a thin layer with 2 tablespoons of the softened butter. Add the cocoa powder to the pan and tap the sides to coat the bottom and sides evenly. Discard any excess cocoa powder. Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven on the center rack until just fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a kitchen towel to stop them from cooking. Use the towel to rub off the skins. Set aside to cool. Lower the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Fill a 1- to 2-quart pot with about 1 inch of water and bring it to a bare simmer over medium heat. Place the dark chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl and set it over the pot and simmering water (this is a bain-marie). The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Let the chocolate melt, and then stir gently. Remove from the heat when melted.
• Chop the hazelnuts into small pieces using a chef's knife or a food processor. Make sure you don't turn them into powder. Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer with the salt until they are almost at stiff peaks. Try not to over-whip. Mix together the remaining 5 tablespoons butter with the chocolate hazelnut spread in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in the espresso. Add the yolks and stir briskly to combine. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts and melted chocolate. Add one-fourth of the whipped egg whites to the chocolate hazelnut mixture and stir to lighten the batter. Then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter in 3 additions. Don't over-fold. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake on the center rack of the oven until the sides of the cake start releasing from edges of the pan, 40 minutes. This cake is almost a hazelnut fudge, so no need to poke with a toothpick to check if the inside is ready or not. The cake will come out of the oven nice and fluffy and souffled, but it will deflate to half the size during its cool-off period. Serve garnished with some powdered sugar and whipped or cream or gelato, if using.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CELEBRATION CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease four 6-inch-round, 3-inch-tall cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
• Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and grind them until you have small crumbs. Measure out 1/4 cup of the hazelnut crumbs and set them aside for the frosting.
• Pour the remaining hazelnut crumbs into a large bowl and whisk in the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, vanilla and eggs. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then stir in the hot coffee. It will be a very thin batter.
• Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them onto a greased cooling rack.
• For the frosting: While the cakes are cooling, use an electric mixer to beat together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Mix in the heavy cream until smooth. Scoop out a tiny amount of frosting for the mustard-colored dollops, add the mustard yellow food coloring and mix until combined. Transfer the yellow frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip. To the remaining frosting, add the dusty rose pink food coloring and mix until the desired shade of pink. Measure out 1 cup of the pink frosting and transfer it to a small bowl. Fold in the reserved 1/4 cup ground hazelnuts.
• Level your cake layers and spread the top of one of them with the hazelnutty frosting. Place a second layer on top, then frost the top with more of the hazelnutty frosting. Continue with the remaining 2 layers. Frost the top and sides with the remaining pink frosting without nuts.
• For the decorations: Decorate with mustard dollops of frosting around the edge. Add marzipan house cutouts of white houses with green shutters, crushed hazelnuts, green grass sprinkles, orange sun sprinkles or whatever else you'd like!

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CUPCAKES

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use a 24 socket cupcake pan and line with paper liners. Set the pan aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and liqueur until blended, and set aside.
• In a large bowl of an electric stand mixer on low speed, gently combine the flour, granulated sugar, hazelnut meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt until blended. Add the butter and sour cream and beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.
• Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 1/2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. In three separate additions, add the egg mixture to the batter, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake liners and bake on the center rack until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool the cakes completely on wire racks, about 30 minutes.
• For the torrone filling: Mix together the butter and powdered sugar with the paddle attachment in an electric mixer. Once thoroughly combined, add the torrone paste. Continue to mix until evenly distributed.
• For the chocolate hazelnut fudge: In a food processor, place the powdered sugar, cocoa and salt. Blend to remove any lumps. Add in the butter and blend until smooth. Add the corn syrup. Process just until combined, and then scrape down the sides. Pulse. Add the chocolate hazelnut spread, and then pulse until completely combined, smooth and creamy.
• To assemble: Core each cupcake, and then fill with the torrone filling. Using a round tip and pastry bag, ice each cupcake with chocolate hazelnut fudge, creating a swirl on top.

CHOCOLATE, HAZELNUT AND COCONUT CAKE

Steps:

• In a mixer (or bowl) combine the eggs, sugar, butter and oil. Beat until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and beat well to mix.
• In another bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda. Add to the wet ingredients in three batches on low speed. Beat each time until the mix just comes together. With the mixer running, add the boiling water and coffee and beat until a smooth batter is formed.
• Butter and flour (or line with baking paper) two 8" round cake pans. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and place in a preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean from the center. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes and turn out on to the wire rack and allow to cool.
• For the filling: in a large saucepan over medium-high meat, bring the cream to a boil watching carefully. Cream will boil over easily. Remove from heat immediately when it comes to a boil.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until pale and light. Add a little of the hot mixture to the eggs and whisk smooth. Pour the eggs into the hot cream. Using a spatula, mix until smooth. Return to low heat and stir until the mixture begins to thicken (about 1-2 minutes). Be very careful not to boil the egg mixture or it will separate. Strain through a sieve back into the mixing bowl and add the coconut and hazelnuts. Stir well, cover with plastic film and chill until needed.
• For the icing: In a mixer, combine the butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa. Whip on low speed until well blended. Beat on high speed until fluffy.
• To assemble the cake, cut each cake in half. Place a bottom layer on a serving plate, spread some of the chilled coconut mixture over the surface. Top with a second cake half and continue with the rest of the cake layers and filling. Using a spatula, spread the icing evenly over the surface of the cake.
• For decoration, you can press toasted coconut or nuts onto the side of the cake.