Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake
One of my all time favorite cakes is the Chocolate Hazelnut cake from Sprüngli (a delicious Confiserie based in Zürich) and we decided that it was time to recreate it at home to see how hard it was and if it would actually taste the same. I started thinking that we would never be able to make the same exact cake - Sprüngli has been making their cakes for years and have had so much time to perfect the recipe but when I had my first taste I realized that it tasted absolutely the same.
This Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake not only surprised me but instantly became one of my top 3 cakes to make at home - it’s not as easy as other cakes as it’s a bit more time consuming but I would still say that anyone can make this cake at home without having any patisserie knowledge. It’s the perfect cake for special occasions and if you want to surprise someone - it’s a cake that people won’t be able to stop eating that’s for sure.
Prep Time: 40 Minutes
Cook Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients for one cake (6 portions):
Hazelnuts - 150 g (1 1/9 cups)
Eggs - 3 Medium
Sugar - 180 g (3/4 cups)
Butter (room temperature) - 140 g (5/8 cups)
All-Purpose Flour - 120 g (1 cup)
Fresh Cream - 10 mL (0.33 oz)
Baking Powder -around 10 grams (1 Tbs)
Ganache:
Fresh Cream - 100 mL (3.38 oz)
Milk Chocolate - 200 g (2 cups)
Butter - 30 g (1.08 oz)
Decoration:
Dark Chocolate - 150 g (1 1/2 cups)
Cake Preparation:
Preheat the oven at 180°C.
The first step is to grind the hazelnuts. We will need roasted and peeled hazelnuts. If you buy them already roasted and peeled you’ll just have to grind them. I like to grind half of them finely and keep the rest a bit bigger. If you have to roast the hazelnuts, put them in a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180°C, remove the skin and then grind. If they are already roasted and you just have to remove the skin, roast them in the oven at 180°c for 5 minutes and it should be easier to remove it. Reserve the ground hazelnuts
In a bowl mix the soft butter and the sugar with a mixer, the result should be a soft texture.
Add one egg at a time in to the mixture and mix each time until each egg is completely incorporated.
Add the ground hazelnuts and mix with a spatula until fully incorporated.
Then add the cream, the sieved flour and the baking powder. Again mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until everything is fully incorporated.
To bake the cake we will use a round mould (22cm). Make sure you grease the mould with butter and a little bit of flour. Pour half of the mixture in the mould. If you have a second mould pour the other half of the mixture in the other one and we will bake them together, if not we will bake the first half first and the second half right after it in the same way.
Bake for 30/35 min at 180ºC. Baking time could vary, to make sure the cake is ready insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out “clean”, with no raw batter it means it’s ready.
Once you have baked both parts you can leave them to rest and move on to the Ganache.
Ganache Preparation:
Get a bowl and put 200 g of Milk Chocolate cut into rough pieces.
Get a sauce pan and cook the fresh cream, as soon as it starts to boil remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the chocolate.
Wait 1 minute and mix the chocolate and the cream together. Add the butter and continue mixing until you have a creamy texture.
The texture depends on the ratio between the chocolate and the cream but also the cacao percentage of the chocolate. The more chocolate, the thicker. As a general rule you can use the following ration for 100ml of cream:
100gr - 70% cacao dark chocolate
125gr - 60% cacao dark chocolate
200gr - 40% cacao milk chocolate
275gr - 30% cacao white chocolate
Assembling the cake:
Place one of the sponge cakes on a plate and spread the ganache on top.
Put the second sponge cake on top.
Melt the dark chocolate with the bain-marie method and spread over the cake. Use a warm spatula to spread homogeneously all over the cake.
Place in the fridge for 30 min before serving.
Decoration: Up to you! Go crazy or just serve as it is. Enjoy!