Chocolate Hazelnut Layer Cake

I love making birthday cakes. I love birthdays and I love cake. This year, Susan requested a cake with the flavors of chocolate and hazelnut - which just so happens to be my favorite flavor combination lately.

The base of this cake is a hazelnut dacquoise, topped with a crunchy layer of chocolate, rice krispies, and hazelnuts. This is topped with layers of chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. The whole cake is covered with a thin layer of chocolate mousse and then a layer of Nutella chocolate frosting. Finally, crushed hazelnuts adorn the sides of the cake. It's not a quick cake to make, but it's much easier when you spread the work over a few days.

I'm not sure which she liked better - the cake or the birthday dance that Derrick and I did for her - but I'm betting it was the cake.





Chocolate Cake (from Epicurious)

3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (I used hazelnut coffee)
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300°F and spray 2 9" pans with baking spray (I used 2 9" pans and made an additional 3 inch cake; I've also used just the 2 9" pans before; 2 10" pans also work). Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and spray paper as well.

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl; pour hot coffee over the chocolate. Let stand for one minute, then stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In another large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).

Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.

Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in the middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool the cake layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool layers completely.

Note: You only need one cake layer for this recipe, so either half the recipe or freeze the unused layer for up to 2 months.


Hazelnut Dacquoise (adapted from Pierre Herme)

2/3 cup finely ground hazelnut flour*
1 cup powdered sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 to 1 cup toasted, skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment paper.

*If you are making your own hazelnut flour, toast the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes until golden and aromatic. Remove from oven, wrap in towel, and let steam for 1 minute. Rub the nuts together vigorously (still in the towel) to loosen skins. This is messy! Most of the skins will have fallen off (it's ok to leave some on); pick out the hazelnuts and coarsely grind in food processor. I sometimes buy hazelnut flour, as the difference in taste is minimal. It is still necessary, however, to put it through the food processor with the powdered sugar to make it fine enough, especially if you're using it for something like macarons. Otherwise the small pieces of nuts will get stuck in your piping tip.

Place the hazelnut flour and powdered sugar in the food processor, and pulse a few times to combine.

Separate the eggs (Use a warm water bath to first bring the eggs to room temperature if you forget to take them out of the fridge soon enough). You can store the yolks in the fridge for a day or two for another recipe (ice cream, sweet tart dough, pastry cream, yellow butter cake, or lemon curd perhaps). You may want to add just a bit of water to the yolks for storage.

Whip the egg whites just until they turn opaque.

Gradually add the sugar, and beat to firm, glossy peaks.

Gently fold the nut mixture into the whites with a flexible rubber spatula. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and use the spatula to make it as even as possible.

Scatter the chopped hazelnuts over the top, and lightly press into batter. I've done this dacquoise with and without the chopped hazelnuts on top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and firm. Cool completely on a rack. The dacquoise can be up to 2 days ahead (wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature) or frozen for up to a month.


Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp Layer

3.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate/hazelnut bar
3.5 ounces milk chocolate/hazelnut bar
2 cups rice krispies

Melt chocolate bars; stir in rice krispies. Spread over dacquoise layer.

Chill for at least 30 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan, and carefully peel off parchment layer.

This amount yields a relatively thick crunch layer. Use 1/2 to 3/4 of the recipe for a thinner layer. Feel free to use pure chocolate rather than the chocolate/nut bars, or stir in your own chopped hazelnuts into the melted chocolate.

Chocolate Mousse (adapted from Epicurious)

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 ounces milk chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream, separated
1/8 cup sugar

Combine chocolate, vanilla and salt in bowl.

Bring 1/2 cup cream to boil in heavy small saucepan; pour over chocolate. Let sit for one minute, then stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Beat 1 cup cream and sugar in large bowl to stiff peaks. Fold into chocolate mixture.

Chill until spreadable, about 2 hours.

Chocolate-Nutella Frosting (adapted from Chocolate Chocolate)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
1/3 to 1/2 cup Nutella, depending on taste (taste is somewhat subtle with 1/3 cup)
Large pinch of Kosher salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5-6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2/3 cup milk, heated to tepid

Beat butter on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

Blend in the melted chocolate, Nutella, salt, vanilla, 1/3 cup milk, and 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

Add in the rest of the milk; beat for 1 minute.

Add the rest of the powdered sugar; beat for 1 minute. Use more powdered sugar for a stiffer consistency, less for a softer consistency.

Refrigerate the frosting for 1-2 hours until spreadable.

You will have some extra frosting.



To Assemble:


Place dacquoise on a cake plate or cake round.

Cut one of the cake layers in half, horizontally. Carefully place one half on top of the dacquoise.

Spread a light layer of mousse on top.

Place the next cake layer on top of the mousse.

Spread the remaining mousse over the top and sides of the cake.

Chill for at least 30 minutes. The mousse needs to be hard enough to spread the frosting over.

Frost the cake. You will likely have frosting left over.

While frosting is still soft, cover the sides of the cake with chopped hazelnuts (I used about 1/2 cup). Refrigerate cake to set. Remove from fridge 2 hours before serving.


The birthday girl thought the cake was even better the next day, after the flavors had had a chance to meld.

Tips: This is a time-intensive cake, but you can break up the work over several days. I made the cake layers on Tuesday night and froze them and the dacquoise on Wednesday night. On Friday, I made the mousse, and assembled the cake up to the mousse. On Saturday morning I made the frosting, and I frosted the cake a few hours later. It was served Saturday night. You may also wish to make a slightly easier version of the cake, below.

Variations:

For a slightly less complicated recipe, use only the chocolate mousse or chocolate Nutella frosting for both filling and frosting the cake. You will need to make 1 1/2 to 2 recipes of the mousse if you use only mousse and 1 1/2 recipes of the frosting if you use only frosting.


Thank you Derrick for taking some of the photos!

Not very daring... Paris, Turin, Florence

No July daring bakers post for me. I spent the first half of the month in France and Italy, and the second half in DC. More tempting desserts coming soon, but for now, here are some of the amazing desserts I found on my trip. I was so busy partaking of the delicious dolci, I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of most of them!

The picture above is my first breakfast in Turin - the birthplace of both chocolate and nutella. It was at one of the several historic cafes in Turin, Caffe Platti. The interior was absolutely gorgeous - baroque style, very ornate. I am not really a coffee drinker, unless you count caramel latte's and caramel frappuccinos. But the macchiato above (even with no sugar added!) was delicious, as was the brioche. It's a little scary when a macchiato and a plain croissant feels like a very healthy breakfast after a week of pain au chocolat in Paris.



I quickly became a regular at Cantinetta del Verrazzano in Florence with a breakfast of cappuccino and brioche.




My hero, Pierre Herme. His macarons will always be my favorite. The olive oil and vanilla (green, below) was surprisingly good. The deux-mille-feuilles, though, may have been the best pastry I've ever had; it's like a traditional Napoleon (a millee-feuilles) but with caramelized puff pastry and a hazelnut cream. It did not last long enough for a photo shoot!



The pictures below are from Des Gateaux et Du Pain. I went for the chocolate hazelnut eclair which they did not have that day. But there were plenty of other gorgeous desserts to pick from instead.



I don't have any more pictures, but the schiacciatta (Florence's version of focaccia), hazelnut gelato, pappa al pomodoro, and zucchini flower pizza in Florence were all amazing. And I think I could eat the tomato parmesan risotto at Rose Bakery in Paris every day.


Coming soon:

raspberry shortbread bars

chocolate hazelnut dacquoise layer cake

August Daring Bakers

Coffee Cheesecake with Nutella Swirl on a Brownie Base

I frequently bake for my students. I may be fooling myself, but a yummy brownie or delicious cupcake seems to lessen the blow of getting one's less than stellar calculus exam back. I also need to give away my baked goods to my students, or my friends will soon start blaming me for sugar overload; the students never complain. Students are also excellent guinea pigs for testing out new recipes. But during semesters when I have a lot of students, I need recipes that can feed a crowd. Cheesecake is perfect - it's fancier than a brownie, easy to make, and serves a lot, especially when I use my 9 x 9 springform pan.





The recipe for this cheesecake is very similar to that of the April Daring Bakers challenge, which is itself very close to Dorie Greenspan's recipe. I added coffee extract, espresso powder, and Kahlua. I also mixed some of the batter with some warmed nutella, and added a nutella swirl. The nutella-batter was too heavy for the cheesecake batter; I got only a slight hint of a swirl on top of the cheesecake, and more of a nutella-cheesecake layer right on top of the brownie layer. It wasn't quite the look I was going for, but it's probably one of the best cheesecakes I've ever had. I especially loved the brownie base. No matter how many layers of aluminum foil I use when I make cheesecake, the water bath always seems to leak into the springform pan. Here, though, the slight leak just seemed to make the brownie base just that much fudgier. Yum.

This recipe makes a lot of cheesecake. I used a 9 x 9 springform pan and had some batter left over for two round 4" cheesecakes. If you're using an oreo-cookie or graham cracker crust, you probably won't have any batter left over after filling the 9 x 9 pan. Use two-thirds of the cheesecake batter recipe (3 eggs) for a 9" round springform pan with brownie crust (or even for a slightly shorter cheesecake in a 10" round pan).

Recipe:

For the Brownie Base (adapted from King Arthur Flour):

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter 3/4 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large eggs
2 cups (14 ounces) sugar
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) a 9 x 9 square springform pan.

Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Cover, and set aside to cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs for 3 minutes, then gradually add the sugar, beating 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in the butter/chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the flour and salt, just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.


For the Cheesecake:

1 Tablespoon espresso powder
1.5 Tablespoons hot water
36 ounces cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia cream cheese)
1.5 cups sugar
5 eggs
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons coffee extract
1 Tablespoon Kahlua
1/4 cup Nutella, warmed

Be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature, especially the eggs and cream cheese. This will help keep cracks from forming in the top of the cheesecake.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (if you're doing the cheesecake the next day; otherwise just leave the oven on). Put a kettle of water on to boil for the waterbath. Wrap springform pan in 3-4 layers of aluminum foil to prevent (or lessen at least!) leakage.

Dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water; cover.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed for about 4 minutes, until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (about 1 minute) and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Beating at low speed, add the heavy cream, extracts, and espresso powder mixture. Stir in the Kahlua. The batter will be thin.

(Note: If you're using a hand mixer, you will want to increase the mixing times).


In a separate bowl, stir together about 2 cups of the batter and the nutella. Pour the remaining batter on top of the cooled brownie base. You'll want to leave a little room (half-inch or so) at the very top of the pan, but it should be nearly full (depending on your pan size and your base, you may have extra batter which can be cooked in small cake pans or muffin tins). Drop the nutella/batter mixture on top of the coffee batter in spoonfuls over the top of the cheesecake. Much of this will sink through the coffee batter. With a knife, gently swirl the nutella batter through the coffee batter.

Bake the cheesecake for about 60-75 minutes: it should hold together, but there will still be a lot of jiggle in the center. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake from the water bath, and let it finish cooling on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Finally a daring baker!

I'm finally a daring baker! For the past year or so, I've eagerly checked my regular blogs at the end of every month to see what the daring bakers were dishing up next. I can't say that I had the time or inspiration to be as creative with this one as, say, Helen of Tartelette or Aran of Canelle et Vanille, but it's a start. I hope to get to some of the previous daring baker challenges as well: streudel, eclairs, and tuiles, ...

This month's challenge was the bakewell tart. I thought these tarts were good, but I won't be rushing to make them again too soon (personally, I think Dorie Greenspan's sweet tart dough is better). I made 6 muffin-sized tarts and two brioche-mold-sized tarts. I had a lot of frangipane leftover. I think the main problem with the tarts was the filling: I did some with a milk chocolate ganache, some with raspberry jam, and some with a combination of the two. The jam got very jelly-like when cooked, so the texture was a little on the rubbery side. The chocolate was better, but I've definitely had more interesting chocolate tarts. Check out the rest of the daring bakers to see other interpretations of these tarts.





The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Recipe:

For the Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Dough

Makes enough for one 9" tart or 8-9 smaller muffin-size tarts.

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
½ tsp salt
1 stick (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 egg yolks
½ tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)
1-2 Tbsp cold water

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. (I used the food processor)

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the extract, and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the Frangipane

9 Tbsp (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) powdered sugar
3 eggs
½ tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in color and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle, but it’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow color.

Assembling the Tarts:

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the center and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in, and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of filling (I used raspberry jam on some, a chocolate ganache on some, and both the jam and ganache on others) onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes (for the full-size tart, about 20 minutes for the smaller tarts). Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. I had quite a bit of frangipane left over.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy, and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream, or custard sauce if you wish.

*Thank you Derrick for the photographs!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cake

I'm starting this blog primarily as a means of documenting my desserts, and as motivation to attempt taking better pictures. I will also be teaching a baking course in January, and I want a place for my students to document their work as well.

When I'm not baking, there's a good chance that I'm working out (gotta burn off all those baked goods), dancing, teaching math, or doing number theory research... or reading recipes... or dreaming up new dessert ideas... so much to bake, so little time! My To Bake list is over ten pages long now, so I have lots to do.




I am a peanut butter addict, as you will no doubt soon discover. I rarely ate it as a child, but now it's part of my daily diet - in sweet or savory form. This peanut butter cake is one of my all time favorite cakes. I've made it for my birthday three years in a row now, it's just that good. It's a peanut butter cake with a chocolate/peanut butter ganache, and cream cheese frosting. I found it in Bon Appetit (covered in Butterfingers in their version, which seems like overkill, even to me), and it's definitely best on day 2 or 3, after the flavors have had a chance to marry. The cream cheese frosting is particularly good: not overly sugary and very creamy.



Recipe (Adapted from Bon Appetit):
For Ganache Filling: (Make the night before)

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter

For Cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter
1 pound golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

Prepare the ganache filling:

Bring cream and sugar to simmer in saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in peanut butter. Chill uncovered overnight or for several hours. If left overnight, you may need to microwave the ganache briefly in order to make it spreadable.

Prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. with baking spray. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Spray again. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter in a large bowl until blended. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions.
Divide the batter among the pans, spreading evenly. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Turn out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool completely.
Prepare the frosting:

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, 1 2/3 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Whisk or beat the heavy cream and 1 cup powdered sugar in bowl until mixture holds medium-firm peaks. Fold into the cream cheese mixture in 3 additions; chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour.

Assemble the cake:

Level each cake layer. Place 1 cake layer on a cardboard cake round or cake plate protected by strips of wax paper or parchment paper. Spread with half of the ganache, leaving a slight border at the outside edge. Place another layer on top of the first layer. Spread with remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the cream cheese frosting. Decorate with chocolate shavings.

Serving:

You can serve the cake immediately, but it's best to let it sit (in the refrigerator) for a few hours or overnight. Serve at room temperature. Freeze leftovers (or the entire cake!) for up to two months. Defrost (still wrapped) overnight; or microwave directly from the freezer for a messier, more gooey slice of cake.



Thanks to Satyan for taking most of these pics.