A chocolate cake should leave your mouth feeling full of the flavour of chocolate, not sugar, and this cake does that. Gianduja, the famous hazelnut chocolate from Piemonte, is the chocolate that I grew up with, so, this is quite a nostalgic cake for me, and I must admit there are times when I think, forget the healthy breakfast, there is nothing better than a slice of this with a cappuccino, mid-morning.
There is such a huge choice of exciting, beautifully made chocolate available now, and that is what you want here.
Note: the ganache for this needs to be made
8 hours ahead.
Makes 1 x 24cm cake
good cocoa powder 40g
buttermilk 120g
eggs 3
unsalted butter 225g, at room temperature, cubed
plain flour 240g
baking powder 2 teaspoons
bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon
vanilla seeds from 1 pod
fine salt ó teaspoon
caster sugar 200g
butter, a little, for greasing the tin
For the gianduja ganache:
double cream 265g
clear honey 15g
good gianduja chocolate 120g,
broken into pieces
1 To make the ganache, pour 75ml of the double cream into a pan, add the honey, and bring to the boil, then take off the heat. 2 Have the chocolate pieces in a bowl, and slowly whisk in the hot cream and honey mixture. 3 Whisk in the rest of the cream and put into the
fridge for 8 hours before using.
4 Preheat the oven to 170ÆC/gas 3. 5 Grease a 24cm round cake tin, with a removable base, with a little butter and line with baking paper. 6 Put the cocoa powder into a bowl and pour in 120g hot water, slowly, mixing until smooth. 7 Stir in the buttermilk and keep to one side. 8 Separate the egg yolks from the whites. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the butter until pale and fluffy. 9 Fold in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, vanilla seeds and salt, then fold in the reserved chocolate mixture. 10 Now you need to make a meringue. Preferably using a food mixer, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until they form stiff peaks. 11 With a spatula, very gently fold half the meringue into the chocolate mixture, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible, and when it is all incorporated, carefully fold in the rest. 12 Spoon the mixture into the tin and level it gently on top. 13 Put into the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, until the centre springs back if you touch it with your fingertip. 14 Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack, placed over a tray or large plate. 15 Spread the ganache all over the top and sides of the cake with a spatula.
