Friday, February 5, 2010

Crowd-pleasing chocolate cake

Crowd-pleasing chocolate cake / Bolo de chocolate para agradar multidões

As one of my favorite people in the food world says, there are times when only chocolate will do.

If your heart is broken, if you’ve had a miserable week at work, or if you have no job at all – a slice of this cake will make you feel better. Even if just for a little while.

Crowd-pleasing chocolate cake / Bolo de chocolate para agradar multidões

Crowd-pleasing chocolate cake
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

125g hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (80g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (22g) Dutch-process cocoa, plus extra to serve
1 teaspoon baking powder
280g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
200g unsalted butter, room temperature, coarsely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons espresso or coffee liqueur – I used brandy
5 eggs, separated
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
crème fraîche, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 22cm (9in) springform cake pan*, line the base with baking paper and butter the paper, too.
Combine hazelnut meal, flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl, set aside. Melt chocolate, butter and espresso in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat, let cool for 5 minutes then stir in yolks.

Whisk egg whites in an electric mixer until firm peaks form (2-3 minutes), gradually add sugar, whisking until thick and glossy. Fold into chocolate mixture, then fold in hazelnut mixture. Spoon into prepared pan and bake until a skewer withdraws clean (30-35 minutes) – do not overbake. Cool completely in tin, remove, dust with extra cocoa and serve with crème fraîche.
Store at room temperature. Best eaten on day of making.

* I made 2/3 of the recipe above and used a 20cm (8in) deep round cake pan with a removable bottom

Serves 10

19 comments:

  1. And, even when life is wonderful, chocolate cake makes it better!

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  2. I love chocolate and Hazelnuts! this recipe sounds delicious!

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  3. oooh this cake looks so fudgy and moist. Just perfect

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  4. I definitely agree! Chocolate can cure all sorts of ills :) And this cake looks like a fine example!

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  5. Wow! Look at that dense chocolate cake! Perfect for Valentines's Day!

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  6. Delicious! Looks like one heavenly chocolate cake!

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  7. I saw one of my fave people (Ina) today say, "You can feel bad before you eat chocolate, and you can feel bad after you eat chocolate, but you can never feel bad while you eat chocolate."

    So true. I think this cake fits that!

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  8. In my experience, chocolate cake is almost always crowd-pleasing, but this particular one sounds even more so than usual!

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  9. YUM YUM YUM-this looks absolutely delicious! The list of ingredients sounds so decadent-I just may have to make this tonight!

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  10. Nice blog, I like it :))

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  11. I just found your blog and the first pictures I saw on here just made me drool. Everything looks sooo delicious. And yes, chocolate always makes the day. Thanks for all these lovely posts.

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  12. Lydia, you are so right, dear! :)

    Symphonious Sweets, they are great together, don't you think?
    Thank you!

    Wizzy, thank you!

    Joey, thank you! Chocolate makes life better. ;)

    Barbara, thank you!

    Lisa, thank you!

    Abby, so now Ina will be one of my favorites, too. ;)
    Thank you!

    A Forkful..., I'm glad you like it, tks!

    Megan, the hazelnuts add a nice touch here - hope you like the cake!

    Medo, thank you!

    Morven, thank you for stopping by - I'm glad you enjoyed the cake!

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  13. This sounds wonderful and looks wonderfully rich and fudgey. You can't beat the combination of hazelnuts, chocolate and coffee

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  14. is there any way i could leave out the brandy/coffee liqueur? i dont do alcohol! thanks (:

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  15. Atheena, you can use espresso (as it says in the recipe). Hope you like it!

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  16. Bianca, thank you for letting me know!

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Thank you for your comment!