Chocolate and white hazelnut cake

Ingredients:

• Soft butter 125g
• Medium eggs 3
• Sugar 120g
• Dark chocolate 180g
• White hazelnut 150g
• Walnut kernels 100g
• Corn starch (cornstarch) 40g
• Plain flour 60g
• Baking powder for sweets 16g
• Cointreau 15g
• Orange peel 1

• Dark chocolate 250g
• Fresh liquid cream 125g
• Walnut kernels 30 g

Method
(1) To prepare the chocolate and nut cake, start by chopping the chocolate 1 and placing it in a water bath. Let it dissolve completely, then keep it aside and let it cool.

(2) In the meantime, take care of the other ingredients. Place the walnuts in the mixer and operate the blades to obtain a fine flour. Wash the orange and grate the zest.

(3) Take your planetary mixer now and add the sugar and soft butter. Operate the whisk and whisk until a frothy mixture is obtained. Then start adding the eggs one by one, adding the next only when the previous one has been completely incorporated into the dough.

(4) Once you have inserted all the eggs, proceed with the white hazelnut spread, the orange zest and, while continuing to work, also pour the cointreau. Then remove the hook and sift the cornstarch, flour and baking powder inside the jug.

(5) Stir gently with a hand whisk or a spatula, until the flour is well incorporated into the dough. Then take the chocolate, which in the meantime has cooled, and pour it into the dough always mixing with the whisk.

(6) Once the chocolate has been incorporated, finally insert the walnut flour. Mix thoroughly and pour the dough into a 22 cm mold previously lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated static oven at 180 ° for 40 minutes (in a fan oven, cook at 160 ° for about 30 minutes). Remove from the oven and let it cool.

(7) While the cake cools, you can dedicate yourself to the cover: Chop the dark chocolate, put the cream in a saucepan and bring it to touch the boil, then remove it from the heat and pour the chocolate. Stir vigorously with the whisk to melt it completely, then transfer it to a bowl placed in a larger container full of ice. Beat the mixture with an electric mixer for 10-15 minutes until you get a well mounted ganache.

(8) Spread the ganache over the entire surface of the cake until it is covered and, with a smooth spatula, create wavy grooves to give your dessert a choppy appearance. Garnish the center of the cake with some chopped walnut kernels, and bring it to the table!

Tips
If you want to give different scents to your dessert, you can flavor the dough with a vanilla bean instead of orange zest, and use Amaretto Disaronno instead of Cointreau.

Buon appetito!