Neethu's Kitchen To Yours: Delish Chocolate Hazel nut Crunch Cake

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Delish Chocolate Hazel nut Crunch Cake










You Wanna impress someone?  This recipe solves the problem. It does take a bit of your time but trust me each min put into making this yummy cake is worth it. So try it and do lemme know :)


Ingredients


Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.


Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.


Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.


Icing for the Decoration of the cake

Crunch:


1 cup (about 4 1/2-ounces) hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
Filling:
2 (8-ounce) containers mascarpone cheeseroom temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Topping:

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest



For the Crunch:

Place the toasted nuts close together in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir the sugar mixture until dissolved. Bring to a boil and let cook until the sugar is light brown, about 8 minutes. Let the bubbles subside then pour the caramelized sugar over the nuts. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and let the sugar nut mixture cool until hard, about 30 minutes. When the sugar nut mixture is hard and cool, top with another piece of parchment paper and pound into small pieces, or place the sugar nut mixture on a cutting board and cut into small pieces. Set aside.

For the filling:

Put the mascarpone cheese, cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer whip the cream mixture to soft peaks. Fold the Crunch mixture into the whipped cream.

For the topping:

Place the chocolate, sugar and zest in a food processor. Process the mixture until the chocolate is finely ground.




To assemble the cake:

Put 1 cake on a serving plate. Top with 1-inch of the whipped cream crunch mixture. Top with the second layer of cake and continue frosting the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream crunch mixture. Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with the ground chocolate. Serve.











16 comments:

  1. HI Neetu,
    this is Ritesh Jindal from Raipur (India). I just happend to visit ur blog after i recd the link from junu, but after I went thru the dishes n the pics, I am actually really surprised..
    The detailing n the pics are really awsome..
    Keep it up n going.
    Make it large..
    cheerz

    **** n do post somethin for the veggies.. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you So much for the encouragement Ritesh.:) It means a lot :). Ofcourse, No worries! I will post vegetarian dishes as well. Anything in particular? :).Gimme some time. I ve just started today.....

    Stay happy and Eat well :)

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  3. Heyyy...Neetz....:-D....I liked ur blog....The pictures look awesome....Jai!!! to Nikkon...Will definitely try this cake

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  4. neethu....congrats on joining the blogger ranks...
    this one looks awesome..will def try out ..keep them coming girl!!

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  5. hi neethu.
    this recepie looked very tempting so i tried it out today.came out quiet well too. thanx to u for that.
    while making it noticed few things hope u wont mind me pointing them out.
    its much easier if u use the layman measurments like for crunch
    2/3 cups of sugar ie 10 tbspoon + 2 teaspoon
    1/3 cups of water ie 5 tbspoon + 1tspoon
    in filling u have mentioned only cream n here we get about 5 different types of cream.if u can change it n mention whipping cream it will make a difference.i was so confused n actually got the wrong cream :-( so the whipping part did not come out as whipping as as i thought:-u r doing a great job and hats off to u.
    reagrds liz ann

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  6. Hey Liz! Thank you so much for ur suggestions. Its my mistake. I actually meant heavy whipping cream. I will make the corrections. And Thank you sooo much again :). Pls lemme know if there is any changes to be made :)

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  7. Hi Neethu,
    The cake looks really good..but have a question..which mixer do you use for mixing cake batter?Is the stand one better than the hand one?and which brand is better?and can it be used for kneading dough as well?

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  8. Hi neethu, your recipes look really good. I was browsing around for a cake for my hubs birthday and I am going to try this! I saw something similar on Giada's site on Food network, but they just use boxed chocolate cake mix. Yours looks better! Wish me luck =)

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  9. Hey Mrudula,

    U can use the hand one. That works perfect too. I ve the Black and Decker one. Its affordable, easy to use and less messy! Not sure abt the kneading dough thou coz i do it with my hands. Its always better to go the natural way :). Hope this Helps Mrudula. Lemme know if u ve any questions!

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  10. Thats Awesome Ann! I hope ur hubby likes the cake. Do Lemme know and ofcourse, wishing You all the cakelycious luck ;). Remember: Be patient while baking. Thats the key and follow the measurements exactly!...and Voila Ur cake will turn Yummlyciously perfect! :)....Cant wait to know how it went :)

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  11. hi neethu
    im gonna try this had a doubt, wat is the firt layer and second layers of the cake mean jus confused also what chocolate have u used lemme knw the brand if possible luv the way u have presented it, keep it goin bim

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  12. hey neethu
    loved the cake wat cup size do i use to measure and where can i find buttermilk thanks pls lemme know
    tara

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  13. Hi!

    This recipe looks awesome! I wanna make it for my husbands b'day, but it would be so much better if you could give measurements in gms and mls! Just a suggestion :)

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  14. Sorry for the Late reply. You can prepare buttermilk using 1 cup water and 1/4 cup curd. Beat well and Voila u ve Butter Milk..Will surely let u know abt the mesaurements in gms and mls soon. thanks :)

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  15. It just Means you bake 2 cakes. place the cake, mascaropone mix and then the cake again. I used hershey's Cocoa powder. Cadubury's cocoa powder is also very good.

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  16. Looks sooo yummy Neethu. You have a gr8 collection of lovely recipes. An award is waiting for you at my space:) Check out this link & grab it: http://teenzyummydelights.blogspot.com/2011/11/liebster-blog-award.html

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