Saturday, February 23, 2008

Nutella Cake

Tony w/ Nutella Cake

Nutella Cake

Kim and Tony made this Nutella cake last weekend. They were quite proud of it. The photo in How to be a Domestic Goddess is really striking; i've thought of making the cake multiple times, but I never seem to get around to it.

It's good to have a recipe like this in your repertoire: elegant and easier to make than it looks. It's the sort of dessert you could throw together for a dinner party with very little planning. It wasn't my favorite cake, but who can say no to something that looks so pretty?

Nutella Cake
Serves 8
Nigella Lawson: How to be a Domestic Goddess

for the cake
6 large eggs -- separated
1 pinch salt
115 g soft butter
1 jar of Nutella (400 g) (Yes, an entire jar.)
1 tablespoon Frangelico or water
100 g finely ground hazelnuts
120 g dark chocolate, melted

for the icing
100 hazelnuts
125 ml double cream
1 tablespoon Frangelico or water
125 g dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. (350 F).

Prepare a 9-inch springform pan: grease and line with parchment or wax paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, then add Frangelico (or what you're using), egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time. Pour into the prepared pan and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on rack.

Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upward and the nuts are golden brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. If you use unpeeled nuts, transfer them to a kitchen towel, and rub, rub, rub. Most of the skins should come off. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Leave them whole or chop them up, depending on how much skin you actually managed to get off.

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, add the cream, liquer or water, and chopped chocolate and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice just the top of the cake. Unmold the cooled cake carefully. Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and decorate with the hazelnuts. Serve with a lightly sweetened whipped cream.

18 comments:

Brilynn said...

"who can say no to something that looks so pretty?"

Are you referring to the cake or the boy?!

bakeorbreak said...

I have that cookbook. How have I not made this yet?!? Oh my!

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Yes, I'm with Brilynn... who is that boy???? Yumm!!!

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

Oh goodness.

That's my roommate's boyfriend, Tony.

Anonymous said...

gorgeous cake. I love anything with nutella, so it sounds like a good fit for me. But you said that it wasn't your favorite cake in the world. What was it that left you hanging?

Anonymous said...

Geez. This nutella cake looks gorgeous, rich and delicious. I'm addicted to nutella so this is cake means for me pure indulgence.

Gretchen Noelle said...

Beautiful cake (as always!). This sounds so good!

peterb said...

This seems like something I would eat the entire thing of and then the next day they'd find me, in the street, with no pants on, dead from a diabetic coma.

JEP said...

Nutella cake...a big slice of heaven!

Abe said...

only somewhat related -- have you tried the nutella ice cream in chocolate and zucchini? seriously, so easy, so good.

Kim said...

can you tell me what "double cream" is??

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

Kim- double cream is heavy cream or whipping cream.

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Lisa! I'm tagging you for a meme if that's ok!!

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

amanda- I found the cake a little dry, and the flavor wasn't as pronounced as I would have liked, considering that there was a whole jar of nutella in it.

I'd rather use the same decorating tactic on some sort of flourless chocolate cake or alternate hazelnut cake.

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Lisa- there are no set questions (I think!) so you just have to reveal five facts about yourself and then tag other five bloggers and let them know you are tagging them.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what to do with the entire jar of Nutella I bought on a whim last night, along with numerous other chocolate-themed items... I am totally at the whim of my horomones - ugh!

Jasmine said...

Does it have a cake-like texture, or is it more like a fudgy brownie? I want to make a layer cake and I wonder if this recipe would work.

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

Hi Jasmine, it's been a very long time since I ate this cake!

I remember the cake being a little underwhelming without the toppings. I think the texture would be sliceable (not squishy like a brownie).

It's probably more dense than your average layer cake layers. Personally, i'd go another route.