To cure my boredom I decided to do a little procrasti-baking on the weekend. And I am very glad that I did, although in hindsight, my waistline is regretting it now.
Here is the recipe for a Nutella Cake.... that's right, a nutella cake. Stop salivating, and go and make this cake. It is hands down one of the best things I have baked all year (and I bake a LOT).
Nutella Cake ala Nigella Lawson
(Recipe serves approx. 8)
Ingredients
for the cake
6 large eggs (separated)
1 pinch of salt
125 grams unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
400 grams Nutella (1 whole jar)
1 tbs Baileys liqueur (or any liqueur you have handy or alternatively water)
100 grams ground hazelnuts
100 grams melted dark chocolate
for the icing
125 ml double cream
1tbs Baileys liqueur
125 grams of dark chocolate
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Baileys (or whatever you're using), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts
- Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time.
- Pour into a 23cm/9 inch round greased and lined springform tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur or water and chopped chocolate, and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake. Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece.
- Ice the top with the chocolate icing.
To decorate the cake I used fresh strawberries placed on top, as well as broken up kit-kat to line the edge. These are optional, but the cake can be decorated to however you desire.
[Another shortcut to this cake, is to purchase pre-made icing (Betty Crocker has a delicious one on offer). This decreases the mess that needs to be cleaned up and is hassle free!]
It is an amazingly dense, moist cake with soft undertones of chocolate hazelnut flavour. Like all flourless cakes, it is not fluffy and light so don't be expecting that when you make this.
When I made this cake, I left the middle slightly gooey as I prefer my cakes to have that slight ooze to them when I am eating it. But as per the instructions, a tip to know if the cake it cooked is to pierce the centre and if the knife comes out clean that its spot on.
- And make sure that when you're making this cake have someone who loves to lick the beaters and/or spoons handy. This is something I have never done in all my time baking, so lucky I had some willing volunteers to do so. Waste not!
