Hazelnut and Coffee Layered Cake

IngredientsCake
250 g butter, softened
250 g castor sugar
2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla essence
⅖ (100 ml) filter coffee, cooled
300 g cake flour
1 Tbsp (15 ml) baking powder
a pinch of salt
5 extra large eggs, whisked
150 g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Mousse Filling
100 g good quality dark chocolate
1 C (250 ml) cream

Ganache Topping
⅖ (100 ml) cream
100 g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

50 g hazelnuts, roughly chopped and toasted, for serving
Type of dish

Oven bakes

Baking

Desserts

Occasion, extravagance & level of difficulty

Fast cooking

Sophisticated

Luxury

special occassions

Simple recipes

Christmas

Cooking appliance

Oven

Combination Steam oven

Induction Hob

Coffee Machine

Microwave combination oven

Bread, cakes and pastries

Cakes & tarts

Flavour

Sweet

30-minute quick meals

Type of ingredient

Dairy

Nuts

Recipe for

9 or more People

Temperate range

Cold

PreparationCake
Preheat oven to 180 C.

Grease and line the base of 3 x 20 cm cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until thick, pale and fluffy.

Sift the dry ingredients together and fold into the creamed mixture.

Stir in the eggs, hazelnuts and cooled coffee. Divide the batter between the 3 tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.

Leave the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the cake pans before turning out onto a cooling rack. Set aside to cool completely.

Mousse Filling
Break the chocolate into smaller pieces.

Melt the chocolate either in double boiler on top of the stove, or in a glass bowl in the microwave on the defrost setting (this ensures that the chocolate melts slowly and won’t burn). Once melted, set aside to cool.

Whip the cream to soft peak stage. Fold into the cooled melted chocolate.

Ganache Topping
Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just below boiling point. Add the chocolate and stir until melted and glossy.

To Assemble
Place the first layer of sponge cake on a cake stand and spread with half of the mousse filling. Place the second layer of sponge cake on top and spread with the remaining half of the mousse filling. Place the third layer of sponge cake on top and spread with the ganache. Sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts.

Cooking time: 20 minutes