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
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
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour an 8" cake pan or springform pan.
- Sift together flour and baking soda. Add hazelnut flour and sugar and mix well.
- Stir in almond milk. Mix until the batter is smooth and pour into the prepared cake pan.
- 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.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, spread the ganache over the top and sides. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Last but not least, chow down!
- Will keep in a covered container in the fridge for one week.
I love the video on making the Ganache recipe!!! I have been wanting to visit Italy for years on end, haven’t gotten there yet, but not giving up!! Thank for this delicious-looking recipe!!