Nutella Cake

Does any one of you talk to yourself? I have this nasty affliction and to the uninitiated, you may think that I am highly disturbed (which I am but that's besides the point). It helps me to focus especially when I am doing something intense. Like figuring out the balancing charge or balancing allowance arising from fixed asset disposals. And when I get it right you will hear a booming "Brilliant Madam! You are freakin' brilliant!" coming from my room. 

Anyway, the other day while rummaging through my pantry (for something to eat, what else) I found this. 

And then I took a look at the cover.

Yikes! Expiry date coming soon. Hence the excuse I was looking for to bake Nutella Cake again. It was back in 2013 when I first baked Nutella Cake and at the time, I was still relatively inexperienced. But luckily for me, the cake turned out alright and I didn't mess up the family dinner dessert.

So now, armed with another year's experience, I should do lots better right? Previously I used store bought ground hazelnuts. This time, I decided to make my own ground hazelnuts. It does take a bit of work - roasting, peeling and grinding the nuts. But I tell you, it is worth the effort because freshly ground roasted hazelnuts impart a wonderful, wonderful aroma that you would not get from store bought ones. So, please go the extra mile if you want a proper Nutella cake. I used a dry mill to grind the nuts.

This cake is a flourless cake and as with such cakes, it is lacking in structure. In the oven, you will see the cake rise beautifully only to see it deflate one cooled. But who cares. 

My cake came out of the oven with a crack in the center and smelling of heavenly hazelnuts and chocolate. I left it to cool for a few hours as I went about my chores.

As I was preparing the ganache to ice the cake, disaster struck. My chocolate seized. Aarrghh...!!!!!! That is why my cake topping is not smooth and glossy. Instead it is grainy and wrinkled. I have never had this problem before and upon googling, I found out that the seizing occurred because some water got into the chocolate. Apparently, to rescue the chocolate, all you need to do is add some water to it. That's sounds crazy because water made it seize in the first place, but apparently that's how it works. 

Seized or not, only the texture is affected, as the chocolate tasted fine to me. The only difference is that if I was sitting for the academy of patisserie exam, this is what will get me kicked out of school hah..hah...and if Gordon Ramsay was the examiner, I would get an earful of "What in the bloody hell is THAT?!" But in the safety of my home, my chocolate could be lumpy for all I care and nobody gives a hoot. Yeah!

Before I dug into a slice, I was worried if the cake would taste weird due to the murdered chocolate. But hey, there was no cause for worry at all. It was sooooooo good! The type of good that would have you close your eyes as if you were in rapture. Is that the correct word? I dare not use the "O" word as I am very prim and proper. Ahem!

See how moist that is? God, I want another slice! But no, my quota is one per day. And as I was enjoying the cake, I thought of the Rihanna Umbrella song. There should be one for Nutella...ella...ella... Of course that's not very original as other people have already thought about it long before I did. But seriously, the version I found on Youtube was rather ghastly. Whoever you are, apologies, I just can't resist. "What in the bloody hell was THAT?!"

Nutella Cake

Recipe source : Adapted from nigella.com

Ingredients :

For the cake :

- 5 large eggs (separated)

- 125 grams soft unsalted butter

- 375 grams Nutella (1 large jar)

- 1 tablespoon rum

- 100 grams ground hazelnuts

- 100 grams dark chocolate (melted)

Note : I roasted the hazelnuts without preheating the oven at 180C for 15 minutes and left them in the oven for another 15 minutes to continue roasting on residual heat. Once cooled, I remove the skin by rubbing the nuts between my fingers. Then I ground the nuts using a dry mill.

For the icing :
- I used ganache. Refer recipe here.

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together and then add rum, egg yolks and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate.

3. In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks

4. Lighten the Nutella/chocolate mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of the egg whites, a third at a time.

5. Pour into a 23cm/9 inch round greased and lined springform tin and bake for 50 minutes or until the a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, then let cool on a rack. 

6. Unmould the cooled cake once cooled.

7. Ice the top with the ganache and decorate with extra roasted hazelnuts or better still, with  Ferrero Rocher!

Note for my own reference : I tented the cake after 40 minutes and continued baking for another 10 minutes. The centre of the cake was still raw and I left the cake in the oven to bake further on residual heat.