Hi! It’s Valentine’s Day! And tomorrow’s my birthday – the big 30! Yikes. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with my favorite kind of dessert. Ugh. I just love chocolate and hazelnuts so much. I wanted to make a cake that tastes like straight-up Nutella and that’s pretty much what this is. I mean, I’m 30 now – I can’t just eat the stuff by the spoon anymore. I have to put it on cake. So this post got a whole lot sweeter when I got invited to take part in a group giveaway and not just any giveaway, my-favorite-kitchen-tool-of-all-giveaway: a 14 Cup Brushed Stainless Steel Cuisinart Food Processor. This is the mother of all food processors. It’s better than the one I have and I love my little food processor more than Brick loves lamp. So there are lots of lovely bloggers participating in this exciting giveaway – which means you can enter multiple times – which means more chances to win! Just scroll down to the bottom to enter and don’t forget to visit these scrumptious blogs as well:
With Food + Love
So…Let’s Hang Out
Tasty Yummies
Beard and Bonnet
Kristen Hedges
Rubies and Radishes
The Pig and Quill
Two Red Bowls
The Dabblist
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Step 1
In your food processor: mix the nuts, salt, oil, powdered sugar, vanilla and cocoa powder together to form a paste. Then add the melted chocolate and blend until smooth.
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Step 2
Make hazelnut flour in your food processor.
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Step 3
Whip the egg whites to form peaks. Slowly add the sugar to make a meringue.
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Step 4
Dust the flours on top of the egg white peaks.
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Step 5
Add the egg yolk and then gently fold ingredients under.
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Step 6
Spread ingredients on parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Place in preheated, 345° oven between middle and top rack. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
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Step 7
While the pastry bakes, make the hazelnut crocante – toast chopped nuts on medium heat with a tablespoon of butter. When the nuts are toasted and fragrant, turn heat off and add a tablespoon of sugar.
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Step 8
Place pastry face down on lightly sugared kitchen towel (to prevent sticking) and gently pull off parchment paper.
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Step 9
Roll it up with the towel and let it cool.
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Step 10
After the cake has cooled. Smear on the nutella.
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Step 11
Top with hazelnut crocante, dust with cocoa powder. Top with whip cream.
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Step 12
Top roll with nutella and hazelnut crocante.
Ingredients for Pastry Roll
5 fresh eggs (separated)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup hazelnut flour (ground hazelnuts)
Ingredients for Filling
1/2 pint whipping cream
1 and 1/2 cup hazelnut crocante (hazelnuts toasted with butter and sugar)
1 cup nutella (see below)
Ingredients for the Nutella
1 cup hazelnuts
12 onces chocolate of your choice, melted (I used 65%)
3 tablespoons hazelnut oil
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
What you’ll need:
baking sheet with a small rim
parchment paper
clean dish towel
1 tablespoon of sugar to sprinkle on the dish towel
Directions
To make the nutella, melt the chocolate on low heat in a double boiler. Let cool slightly. In your food processor: mix the nuts, salt, oil, powdered sugar, vanilla and cocoa powder together to form a paste. Then add the melted chocolate and blend until smooth. Done and delicious.
To make the pastry: line your baking sheet with the parchment paper. Preheat oven to 345F and place rack near top shelf. Lay out a clean dish towel and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Beat the egg whites to foam and then slowly add the sugar. This make a meringue. Continue beating until stable peaks form. Sift the flours on top. Break the egg yolk with a fork and drizzle over the snowy peaks. Gently fold the egg yolks and flour into the egg white meringue using a large wire whisk. It is ok if the mixture is not completely homogenous, it could even be slightly lumpy. It’s important is to keep it light.
Evenly spread the batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake near top shelf for about 11 minutes. It’s ready when it is light golden brown and feels spongy to the touch. Turn baked pastry over onto dish towel and peel off the parchment paper while hot. Roll pastry and dish towel together into a roll, set aside to cool.
Whip whipping cream and when almost firm, add a heaping tablespoon of sugar. To make the hazelnut crocante, roughly chop nuts and place in pan on medium to low heat with a bit of butter. When toasty and fragrant turn off heat and add a tablespoon of sugar.
When cool, unroll the pastry from the dish towel. Spread nutella over pastry, sprinkle with hazelnut crocante and dust with cocoa powder. Spread cream over all that. Roll back up. Dust with cocoa powder or spread on more nutella and hazelnuts as shown.
Notes
Nutella recipe inspired by The Splendid Table
By making your own Nutella you can avoid palm oil and help save the rainforest and the Orangutans. More about that here. Plus, it tastes just as good as the real thing.
Chocolate and hazelnuts not your thing? Whaa? Here’s my original recipe for this cake: Biskuitrolle with Raspberry Cream