Gianduia Chocolate Hazelnut CakeSometimes she bakes

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Baked in the cool morning air
before the next heatwave hits

Ingredients
200 g dark chocolate couverture or semisweet baking chocolate
100 g butter at room temperature
200 g superfine sugar
6 egg yolks
6 egg whites
1 pinch of Salt
200 g roasted hazelnuts, finely ground

Directions
Grease and flour an 11 inch (28cm) cake pan
Preheat oven to 330°F (170°C)
Melt chocolate
Beat chocolate with butter and 100 g sugar until fluffy
Add egg yolks, one at a time
Continue beating for 5 more minutes

In a separate bowl:
Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until the soft peak stage
Continue beating while gradually adding 100 g sugar
Beat at high speed until stiff peaks form

Fold first hazelnuts into chocolate batter
then 1/3 of the egg whites, mix carefully.
Quickly fold in the rest of the egg whites until no white streaks remain

Pour into the cake pan
Bake in the preheated oven at 330°F (170°C) for 30 minutes
(I like to check after 25 minutes. Cake is done when the center still feels somewhat soft to the touch
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, on a wire rack

Note:
In my convection oven, I bake the cake at 320°F (160°C) for 25 minutes.
I like to serve the cake with a dollop of crème fraîche and raspberry-strawberry sauce
(I puree defrosted rasperries and strawberries with the immersion blender,
then strain it through a fine sieve - I don't add sugar)
The cake and the sauce keep in the fridge for four days, at least
(if you can hide it that long from you know whom) ;-)


Photographed 26 August 2015 at Casa Merisi Pâtisserie
Images and Text © by MerisiLink:
Gianduia at Wikipedia:
Gianduja or gianduia (Italian: [dʒanˈduːja])[1] is a sweet chocolate spread containing about 30% hazelnut paste, invented in Turin during Napoléon's regency (1796–1814), when the Mediterranean was under a blockade by the British.