:: It’s got to be (gluten) free ::

Flourless Chocolate & Hazelnut Cake (GF)

:: Megann’s Kitchen ::

:: flourless chocolate & hazelnut cake (gf) w/max brenner crunchy chocolate marbles ::

I first decided to make this recipe for my friend, Linda, who is a coeliac & cannot have a number of ingredients that are in my pantry, namely gluten. I was going through my recipe index in my head one day when she was over for a coffee & I decided that I needed to start afresh. When I made this successfully first go, I called her excitedly, “can you have a flourless chocolate & hazelnut cake?” I asked. “I think so,” she said “I will come over tonight!”.

Well, needless to say the cake was a hit, she loved it & it is now a favourite in our house, flourless or not. It is so easy that I recently made it for Mick’s birthday along with an Orange & Poppyseed Cake for his work, & then again a few days later for a fundraising tea party for the Jane McGrath Breast Cancer Foundation. You could not get an easier more decadent cake to make. You don’t need icing, just a dusting of cocoa powder & double cream to serve. It cools in the pan so you can travel with it in the tin, taking it out when you are ready to display it. I have been asked for this recipe a countless number of times & it is my number one chocolate cake at the moment, so thank you Linda for the inspiration!

240g dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

150g unsalted butter, cubed

270g brown sugar

125g hazelnut meal (finely ground hazelnuts)

6 large eggs, separated

to dust

1 tbs cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Pre-prepare lined 22cm (9 inch) springform cake tin. Put the butter & broken chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan on low heat with simmering water, & stir constantly until mixture is completely melted & smooth. Sit on the bench to cool slightly whilst you prepare your other ingredients.

Add the sugar & hazelnut meal to the chocolate mixture & combine until there are no lumps. Add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring well between each one. In a separate bowl, whisk your egg whites until firm peaks form, then gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Make sure that the mixture is just combined but there are no large white foamy lumps in the mixture as they will rise to the surface of your cake making bubbles.

Spoon the mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 60mins; until just firm. Keep in mind that this cake is meant to be soft & fudgy in the middle, so don’t panic if it looks underdone. Leave to cool completely in the cake tin before removing (this is essential!)

:: a freshly made flourless chocolate & hazelnut cake (gf) ::

:: pouring the mixture into the preprepared cake tin ::

Style: Dust with cocoa powder & I sometimes like to add whole hazelnuts on top of the cake to make it look extra special. This particular time I had been to Max Brenner & purchased some praline chocolate wafer marbles & knew they would go perfectly with my cake.

:: Serve with double cream &/or baby mint leaves if you have them available.

:: measured hazelnut meal ::

:: melting butter & chocolate ::

Kitchen Notes: If you, by chance, ever find a chocolate recipe too sweet, try using some 70% cocoa dark chocolate in the mixture. You will get full chocolate flavour but the sweetness isn’t there.

:: This recipe is origionally from Bill Granger’s Holiday, adapted for my larger tin & very sweet tooth.

:: I find my Anolon 22cm cake tin a more accommodating slice for the density and sweetness of this chocolate cake.