A good chocolate cake is always a safe bet. For our chocolate and hazelnut super cake, we first prepare a very juicy sponge cake, with chocolate also in the dough, which we will cut into layers and then fill with a syrup and hazelnut praline. It is an ideal cake for those with a sweet tooth because the coverage is also chocolate.
Once you have the cake, let it cool completely before cutting it into discs and proceeding to brush it with the syrup and introduce the hazelnut praline. It has a touch of brandy, which you can eliminate if children are going to drink it.
Chocolate cakes combine perfectly with both nuts and red fruits, try this delicious chocolate cake with pomegranate jelly or the chocolate and raspberry cake to see for yourself.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 100 grams of sugar
- 75 grams of flour
- 125 grams of fondant chocolate
- 1 deciliter of water
- 600 milliliters of whipping cream
- 4 gelatin sheets
FOR THE PRALINE
- 100 grams of sugar
- 140 grams of chopped hazelnuts
- 100 milliliters of whipping cream
FOR THE SYRUP
- 1 deciliter of water
- 75 grams of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of brandy
FOR COVERAGE
- 150 grams of fondant chocolate
- 150 milliliters of whipping cream
- 75 grams of butter
How to make super chocolate and hazelnut cake
1. Prepare the cake
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Melt the chopped chocolate in the hot water. Beat the eggs with the sugar until they triple their volume. Add half of the sifted flour and mix until well integrated. then, add the rest of the flour, mix, and incorporate melted chocolate.
2. Bake and cut into discs
Pour the batter into a greased springform pan and bake at 180°C for 35 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool and cut it into four disks.
3. Make a syrup
For the syrup, boil the sugar with the water in a saucepan for about 4 or 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the brandy and let cool.
4. Make the praline
For the praline, prepare a blond caramel in a pan with the sugar. Add the hazelnuts and spread it out on parchment paper. Once cold, chop it in the mortar or with a food processor and then beat it with the cream.
5. Hydrate the gelatin
Soak the gelatin in cold water. Heat 100 ml of cream and dissolve the well-drained gelatin in it. Whip the rest of the cream and mix it with the cream with gelatin and the praline, stirring with enveloping movements.
6. Fill in the layers
With the help of a brush, soak the sponge discs with the prepared syrup. Recompose the cake, inserting the sponge discs with layers of the praline mousse.
7. Melt chocolate for coverage
Prepare the coverage by melting the chopped chocolate with the cream in a bain-marie. Add the butter and remove it from heat. Cover the cake with the topping using a spatula. Let cool, decorate to taste, and serve.
Tips to make your super chocolate and hazelnut cake perfect
Beat conscientiously. To make the cake batter, vigorously beat the yolks with the sugar. So much so that they should triple their volume. Then you have to add half of the flour sifting it with a fine sieve, keep beating until it is well integrated. In the end, you have to incorporate the melted chocolate.
The praline. For our filling, we have used this typically dried fruit paste of French origin, which is usually hazelnuts or almonds (or even a mixture of the two). In our case, we have used raw chopped hazelnuts, but if you prefer them toasted, it is just as delicious.
The coverage. To give it the final chocolatey touch, we form the coverage by mixing fondant chocolate, butter, and cream. It will be a delicious hard layer. If you want, you can add some red fruits on top or reserve some whole hazelnuts to decorate.