Chocolate and hazelnut loaf cake recipe: the fudgy, rich and moist family favourite
This cake uses a very approachable pantry ingredient, but one simple step transforms it into the ultimate chocolatey addition.
At the end of a meal, this chocolate and hazelnut cake is a family recipe we enjoy often. Boiling your chocolate cake mixture might sound bizarre, but the result is a fudgy, rich and moist cake. The cake uses the approachable pantry ingredient, cocoa powder. Boiling cocoa powder hydrates it and makes it bloom, which brings out the chocolatey flavour.
I like to bake this in a loaf tin but it equally works in a 20cm round cake tin. It’s a good one to double too. You can then bake the mixture across two tins, fill the centre and top with icing for a showstopper of a chocolate cake.
From my family to yours, happy cooking.
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RECIPE: Chocolate and hazelnut loaf cake
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter, chopped
- 1½ cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda
- 6 tablespoons (½ cup) of cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- 3 eggs, whisked
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoons of sea salt
Buttercream
- 60g butter, room temperature
- 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 200g chocolate hazelnut spread such as Nutella
- 1/4 cup thickened cream
Equipment
- 1 x 20cm small loaf tin or 20cm round cake tin
Method
- Place the butter, sugar, bi-carb soda, cocoa powder and water into a deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Gently bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Leave to cool for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C and butter and line your cake tin.
- Once cool, whisk eggs together in a small bowl. Add whisked eggs to the chocolate mixture along with hazelnut meal, flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until combined.
- Pour into cake tin and place in the oven and cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until your cake has risen and cooked through. You can insert a skewer to check the cake is cooked, the skewer should come out clean. Leave cake in tin for 5 minutes then carefully flip out to cool completely on a cake rack.
- To make the icing, place the butter into a bowl and using electric beaters, beat for 3 minutes until very creamy. Add icing sugar and chocolate, hazelnut spread and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Lastly add cream and beat for a remaining 2 minutes.
- When the cake is completely cooled, spread the icing thickly over the top.