Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

It's really hard to find hazelnuts at the moment! I have no idea why, but I do know that I struggled to find even whole hazelnuts, nevermind ground hazelnuts. And so I am very grateful that I recently bought myself 'n new food processor that includes a coffee grinder attachment.

I made this cake out of Bake it by Murdoch Books. Instead of the vanilla cream suggested in their recipe, I decorated it with chocolate ganache and more hazelnuts (since I had more than enough left - I could only find a 1kg pack). My mom's signature chocolate cake gets a slab of whole nut chocolate melted on top, and I wanted to recreate that effect here. In part because it tastes divine, and in part because it reminds me of one of my favourite ladies.

My batter became very thick (I maaaay have forgotten to add the melted chocolate at the right stage, so that could be it) so folding in the egg whites at the end was very tricky, and it came out a little dense; or perhaps it's because my home-ground hazelnuts were too coarse. For whatever reason, I wasn't quite happy with the outcome so I brushed it with some coffee syrup after it had cooled (I imagine it would be even better if you do it when hot).

Having said that, an imperfect chocolate hazelnut cake is still a CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CAKE so, you know.

Low Carb Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 150g dark chocolate (the higher the cocoa content, the lower the carbs)
• 125g butter, softened
• 5 eggs, seperated
• 150g sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• ¹/₂ tsp baking powder
• 200g ground hazelnuts
• ¹/₃ cup (40g) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Syrup

• 100ml boiling water
• ¹/₄ cup sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• 1 tbsp instant coffee (optional; leave out or replace with a dash of vanilla essence or liquor of your choice)

Ganache

• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol) or to taste - the very dark chocolate makes for a bitter ganache, so I opted to sweeten it a bit
• ¹/₂ cup cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160^oC
2. Grease a small cake pan and line with baking parchment
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, over hot water or in the microwave in 30-60 second bursts
4. Cream the butter and sweetener for the cake in a food processor until smooth
5. Add the egg yolks one by one, mixing after each
6. Mix in the melted chocolate
7. In a seperate bowl, whisk or sift together the remaining ingredients
8. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and mix well (using a paddle attachment or wooden spoon)
9. In a seperate, clean bowl or mixer, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks
10. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in two batches, as gently as possible
11. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean
12. In the meantime, mix all the ingredients for the syrup until the sweetener is melted
13. When the cake comes out of the oven, allow to cool a little then turn out onto the serving platter (because once you've moistened it, it will be very hard to move without breaking it)
14. Pour the syrup over the hot cake (or brush with a pastry brush if you prefer) and allow to cool completely
15. Melt the ingredients for the ganache together (double boiler, hot water, or in microwave bursts). You can stop when the chocolate starts melting into the cream, and finish the process simply by stirring until fully melted
16. Spread the slightly cooled ganache over the cake, allowing it to drip over the sides. Optionally, you can spread half the ganache, then add a handful of whole, toasted hazelnuts to the rest of the chocolate before topping the cake with it

Cheesecake

When thinking of banting desserts or cakes, anything with "cheese" in the name is going to have a huge head start, isn't it?

I have got a lot of use out of this chocolate cheesecake cake recipe from Barbara Bakes. It makes a spectacular celebration cake; I've paired the chocolate cake part with chocolate buttercream for an epic chocolate cake; and I noticed from the start that the cheesecake layer is flourless and thus ideally suited to gluten free or low carb baking.

There's very little that needs changing about this recipe, and I've made it exactly as given before (except for the sugar, of course). I added a coconut and ground almond crust that time, but frankly I feel like it's unnecessary at best, and detracts from the cheesecake at worst. I do however find it a little too dense - it has to be for the original recipe, to stand its ground between two layers of chocolate cake - but I prefer the slightly softer texture you get by replacing some of the cream cheese with creme fraiche - sold in South Africa as "cultured cream" - or sour cream. It is slightly more likely to crack, though, so the choice is yours.

I bake this in my smallest spring form pan (20cm). I always swear I'm going to double it next time just to get a more dramatic looking cake - until I realise how much that would cost. Cheesecake is expensive, yo.

A NOTE ON PREPARING YOUR PAN:
This is a very runny batter. I like to not only put parchment on the bottom before greasing my pan, but I also use some foil to create a tighter seal. Place the bottom of a spring form pan on top of a large piece of foil. Lower the foil into the spring form pan's outer ring, bending the foil up around the bottom as you go, so as to fit inside. Secure the ring around the bottom, then smooth the foil up against the inner sides of the ring - they'll be a little more uneven but I've never noticed a significant issue with how the cake looks - and creamy cheesy batter dripping out the bottom is a much bigger problem. Cut out a round of greaseproof paper, lay it in the bottom, then grease the inside of the pan/foil/paper.

I like to serve this with a bit of strawberry compote; it adds a sweet and juicy lushness as well as a burst of colour. You may choose to serve it with whipped cream instead, or both (like I did in the picture - which has nothing to do with hiding an epic crack in my cheesecake!), or just as is.

Low Carb Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2x230g tubs of cream cheese, or 1 + 1x230g tub creme fraiche
• ²/₃ cups sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• ¹/₃ cup sour cream
• ¹/₃ cup cream
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160^oC with two oven racks - one in the middle of the oven, one on the bottom
2. Prepare your pan (see above)
3. Get out a large baking tray and boil a kettle of water
4. Beat the cream cheese (and creme fraiche) with the sweetener and salt until smooth
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each
6. Beat in the sour cream, cream and vanilla
7. Pour into the prepared pan
8. Put the oven tray on the bottom oven rack and fill with hot water, and put the cake pan on the top rack
9. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until set
10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, then run a knife along the edge - this ensures that when it starts to cool and contract, it will pull away from the sides instead of cracking

Low carb strawberry compote

Ingredients

• 2 cups ripe strawberries (leaves removed)
• 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol)

Method

1. I like to place all the ingredients in my food processor and blitz them, but if you don't have one or you prefer bigger pieces of strawberries, you can chop them by hand and then mix everything together
2. Place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, or until cooked and slightly thickened and smelling wonderful