Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Rich with the gorgeous flavours of hazelnuts, chocolate and a lovely crunchy topping this cake is amazingly moist and indulgently delicious, while not overly sweet. It is gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free as well as Paleo friendly.
For the freshest hazelnut meal grind whole hazelnuts (activated if possible) in a food processor. Otherwise use pre-made hazelnut meal for this recipe.
Use a small 20cm springform cake tin or you can double the recipe and make the cake in a larger 25cm tin.
Ingredients
Hazelnut Cake:
- 3 cups roasted hazelnuts , or hazelnut meal
- 2 tsp baking powder , aluminium free
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 large organic eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter or coconut oil , melted
Chocolate Icing:
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 100 ml maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil , melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp water
Crunchy Hazelnut Topping:
- 1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp butter or coconut oil
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
- Grind the 3 cups of hazelnuts in a food processor to make hazelnut meal. Don't over-process or you will end up with hazelnut butter.
- In a large bowl mix together the hazelnut meal, baking powder and salt.
- In another large bowl combine the eggs, maple syrup, vanilla and butter.
- Gently fold the two mixtures together, being careful not to over-mix.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is cooked through. Cover the top of the cake with baking paper if it is browning too much.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan.
- To make the chocolate icing, add all of the icing ingredients to a blender and blend until rich and glossy. Put the icing in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up if it seems too runny.
- Make the crunchy hazelnut topping by melting the coconut oil or butter in a small frypan over a low heat. Roughly chop 1/2 cup of hazelnuts. Add the hazelnuts and maple syrup to the pan and toss altogether for about 5 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and cool.
- Once the cake has cooled, pour over the icing and sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top.
Optional Ideas:
- Replace the hazelnuts with your favourite nuts, such as almonds, pecans or walnuts, or a combination of nuts.
- You could make this cake with pre-ground hazelnut meal.
- If you enjoy the flavour of coffee add 2 tbsp of strongly brewed organic espresso to the cake mix.
- Add 2 tbsp of hazelnut liqueur or brandy if you like.