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

Banting Truffles ("Fat Bombs")

I've been trying to find a few nice recipes for something sweet and satisfying to have while banting. There are a lot of recipes out there for fat bombs, but I've got a few problems with them.

• The name. Eugh.
• They use so much coconut oil. That stuff is super expensive!
• Some have other weird and wonderful ingredients I just don't have, and don't plan to buy just for one recipe.

I've tried out a few recipes. The chocolate ones have been too dark and bitter; the lemon ones don't taste of anything but butter (I guess that's why they use so much coconut oil). The choc fudge ones wouldn't set. I am still experimenting but here's the first batch I thought wasn't too bad. In fact, they were finally good enough to give as a gift to some fellow banters. If you are using Stevia or some sort of liquid sweetener, you can skip the melting phase. It's just to dissolve the xylitol granules I use so they aren't crunchy in the truffles.

To set your truffles, there are a number of options.

• You can use small paper liners, like in the photo. This is the least effort, and prettiest, option. Put them in a mini cupcake pan or cake pop pan, or on a flat plate that you can transfer easily.
• You can chill it until almost set and roll into balls, then roll in cocoa like normal truffles
• Chill it in a buttered dish and cut into blocks
• Use a cake pop tin, ice cube tray or mini cupcake pan. Remember to butter or spray it first - it might be a bit harder to get them out of these shapes as they don't set completely like chocolate.

May I suggest spooning the finished mixture into a piping bag or zip seal bag with a small corner cut off, and piping it into your container(s). It isn't runny enough to pour, and using a spoon will get messy. You can see the swirls in the picture where I piped mine into my papers; maybe next time I'll keep the tip still so they don't look so much like... well, you know.

I think you could reduce the cocoa a bit, they still taste quite dark; I want to keep trying to perfect the recipe. It's a tough life :)

Banting chocolate truffles

Ingredients

• 125 g coconut oil and/or butter - I used 75g coconut oil and 50g butter
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• Half a tub (about 113g) cream cheese

Method

1. Melt the xylitol in 50g of the oil by microwaving in short bursts, until dissolved (careful that you don't burn it though)
2. Soften the rest of the oil if necessary, in the microwave, in VERY short bursts
3. Mix together all the ingredients. Whisk well until it's all dissolved, slightly set and glossy
4. Transfer into your container(s) of choice (see above), and allow to set in the fridge or freezer. Keep chilled at all times.