Hazelnut Cake with chocolate praliné ganache

An autumn wind is blowing in Paris, the streets are full of fallen leaves and in the mornings you have to wear something long when you walk to Emanuel’s boulangerie. This is also the season when chestnuts fall from the trees (unfortunately they are inedible) and dot the city sidewalks in a kind of pods that look like green aliens.

In these days when we rarely travel by metro, we anticipate the change of seasons and are exposed to the magic that happens around us, this is how it is when we walk long hours every day and rediscover the city. One of our most recent discoveries was the hazelnut trees that are just below the house.

Dozens of trees laden with hairy, green clusters adorn our street. At first we thought that like the beautiful but inedible chestnuts the hazelnuts are also inedible and then we researched the subject and it became clear to us that under our house there is a rain of edible hazelnuts! Literally we have natural raw materials under the house.

So inspired by this impressive discovery I decided to make a cake on the purity of hazelnuts, one that is fun to eat on autumn days alongside an excellent coffee. The texture of the cake is juicy and moist thanks to the nut fat and the relatively small amount of flour. The cake is wonderful as it is, but a chocolate ganache with praliné and roasted hazelnuts will upgrade it.

Hazelnut Cake with chocolate praliné ganache
25-cm loaf pan

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Ingredients

For the cake:

150 g  butter in room temp’.
130 g fine sugar
240 g eggs (4 eggs)
130 g ground hazelnuts (Hazelnut meal, roasted)
180 g flour 
10 g baking powder
120 g milk

For the Chocolate praliné ganache paste:

90 g heavy whipping cream
100 g dark chocolate, chopped
80 g milk chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp praliné paste
Toasted hazelnuts, chopped (possible).

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Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. line a 25-cm loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until obtain a light and fluffy preparation.

3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: ground hazelnuts, flour and baking powder..

5. Sift half the dry mixture over butter mixture, stir to combine. Add half the milk, stir to combine. Repeat with remaining dry mixture and milk

6. Pour mixture into pan, bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick poked in comes out clean, but not too dry. Cool completely.

7. Ganache: Heat the cream until simmering. Pour the hot cream over the 2 chocolates, wait a few seconds, then stir with a spatula. Add praliné paste and stir to make a smooth ganache. Wait about 30 mintutes before using (don’t use the ganache if it’s hot).

8. Cover the cake with the ganache paste and decorate with toasted hazelnuts.

Bon Appetit
Sharon