Hazelnut and Ganache Snack Cake

Hazelnuts and chocolate. What’s not to love? This Hazelnut Snack cake with Ganache brings these two old friends together again in a very delicious way. For this recipe, I used some hazelnut flour to make this cake very unique. I like Bob’s Red Mill Hazelnut flour (I am not endorsing this product, btw).

Hazelnuts and chocolate have a long history together. The super-popular Nutella, for example, combines hazelnuts and cocoa (and a few other ingredients) into a creamy spread. Pietro Ferrero from Piedmont, Italy created this spread as a way to extend cocoa, which was at a shortage during WWII. According to the internet, “Nutella fans eat 365,000 tons of the stuff each year.”

Anyway, I digress….

Cakes from scratch

It has been fun to watch the evolution of cake baking. For Nana and Mom’s generation, Betty Crocker, who is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, provided the high-tech from-the-box cakes, thus edging out the from-scratch crowd.

Times have changed again.

These days it seems the pendulum has swung way to the other side. From-scratch on steroids. Currently, I cannot go to Instagram without seeing a homemade cake topped with a tower of meringue or slathered with mounds and mounds of fluffy frosting. From-scratch is back! It’s so retro. I loved cooking with my Nana in her green-tiled kitchen and learned to make pies and cakes from scratch, and for this I am eternally grateful.

The race is on for the cake with the least ingredients… someday we will hear, “I can make this cake with only two ingredients!” Wow, that I want to see.

This hazelnut cake holds its own with only 6 ingredients (8 with ganache). Enjoy!!! Buon appetito!

Hazelnut Snack Cake

Cover with ganache or eat as-is, this cake is pure delight

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients Method Video

Ingredients

  

Cake batter

• 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (plus a bit more to prep the cake pan)
• 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup hazelnut flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup almond milk (or cow milk if desired)

Ganache and Topping

• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup chocolate chips or chocolate bar, roughly chopped
• ½ cup hazelnuts, chopped

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour an 8" cake pan or springform pan.
2. Sift together flour and baking soda. Add hazelnut flour and sugar and mix well.
3. Stir in almond milk. Mix until the batter is smooth and pour into the prepared cake pan.
4. Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes – until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
5. Remove from oven, cool completely. Remove from cake pan and either eat right away or frost with chocolate ganache. See recipe below.

Ganache (prep time – 10 minutes)

1. Add water to a bain-marie or double-boiler, bring water to a boil and place the upper pot on top, making sure it does not touch the boiling water below. Add the cream and let it warm.
2. Have chocolate waiting in a separate bowl. Once the cream is warmed, remove from heat and pour over chocolate, letting the chocolate melt in the cream. Using a whisk, stir rapidly until the cream and chocolate have emulsified creating a smooth creamy sauce.
3. Once the cake has cooled completely, spread the ganache over the top and sides. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Last but not least, chow down!
4. Will keep in a covered container in the fridge for one week.

Video