Flourless Crunchy Caramel, Date and Hazelnut Cake (How to adopt a second family via birthday cake)

Family.

You don’t necessarily need to be related to them. They don’t always look the same but they’re a pretty cool thing to be included in. Especially when they like cake & ask me to make it.

Mr Bake & Bloom’s father turned 65 on the weekend (HAPPY BIRTHDAY again Mr Jennings) and I was more than happy to me asked to take care of the big fella’s cake. My brief: Chocolate cake to feed the usual suspects.

On another note: my Bake & Bloom business cards arrived on Friday. I was feeling professional, I was feeling fancy & on that note I needed a fancy cake to match my fancy blog & business cards. And by match…I mean..I just stuck my card on top (of the box, not the cake..I know it kind of looks like I stuck it on the cake but I promise I wouldn’t do that).

Fancy cakes have layers & shards of toffee & lots of funny ingredients…like dates, hazelnut, praline & cocoa nibs. And the cake I made had all of them, so it is super fancy. Something about the golden shards of cocoa nib praline garnishes massive oohs & ahhs from the crowd. I don’t quite understand it…it’s just sugar.

I have to day the patisserie ganache is the best looking & tasting ganache I have ever made. I doubt I would ever use another recipe again in my life, it’s just that good.

It is best to begin this cake the day ahead & decorate it on the day you need it. it’s not particularly complicated but the ganache is best after it has cooled for 24 hours &  there a number of elements to bring together to make the magic happen.

Flourless Crunchy Caramel, Date and Hazelnut Cake

(adapted from the Lindt chocolate website )

Ingredients:

(For the cake)

• 200g Lindt Excellence Crunchy Caramel
• 50g Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa
• 220g pitted dates, fresh recommended
• 150ml water
• 45ml Frangelico
• ½ vanilla pod or 1 tsp good vanilla extract
• 180g unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• Pinch salt
• 120g brown sugar
• 200g hazelnut meal
• 8 hazelnuts to garnish

(For the patisserie ganache)

• 250g Lindt Excellence 70%Cocoa
• 250ml cream, 35% fat
• 1tsp vanilla paste
• 40g sugar
• 40g glucose syrup (If you can’t get glucose syrup I think light corn syrup would work just as well)
• 40g unsalted butter

(For the caramel filling)

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

(For the cocoa nib praline)

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 c cocoa nibs

Method:

(Cake)

1. Preheat oven to 170ºC (150ºC for fan forced oven) and grease a 26cm spring-form tin.
2. Place dates in a saucepan along with water, Frangelico and split vanilla bean. Simmer over a low heat until dates are soft. Remove from heat and push dates through a coarse sieve, creating a smooth purée. Discard remnants of skins & such left in the sieve & set puree aside to cool.
3.  Using an electric mixer, whisk eggs, egg yolks, salt and brown sugar until mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Place butter in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat. Break up chocolate and place in saucepan with the butter. Remove from heat and stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
5. Mix the chocolate and butter into the whipped egg. Fold in date purée and hazelnut meal, ensuring there are no lumps. Mix until well incorporated. Pour cake batter into greased tin and smooth top with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes or until cooked. Allow cake to cool in the tin.

(Ganache)

1. Place the cream, vanilla, sugar and glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Once boiling, pour over the chocolate.
3. Mix with a small whisk until the chocolate is molten and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
4. Add the butter and mix until molten.
5. Cover the top of the ganache with cling film or a disk of baking paper to prevent from forming a skin & allow to sit at room temperature overnight.

(Caramel)

1. Remove the label from the can & place in a slow cooker on it’s lowest setting. Cover with water & leave for 7.5-8 hours. (I like to do this right before I go to bed)
2. Remove from the water & allow to cool completely (at least  a couple of hours) before opening

(Cocoa nib praline)

1. Prepare a baking sheet or  the back of a cookie tray by lining it with baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan over a high heat melt 1 tbsp of the sugar, add another spoonful of sugar &  allow to melt into the praline.
3. Continue adding sugar until all the sugar is dissolved &  the mixture is dark golden.
4. Remove from the heat & quickly stir in the cocoa nibs.
5. Pour over the baking paper & spread as thin as possible using the back of a spoon.
6. Allow to set (you can pop it in the freezer for a while to speed it up) & break into attractive shards to decorate the cake

(Assembly)

1. Cut the cake in half using a serrated knife.
2. Spread about half the caramel thinly to cover the centre of the cake & replace the top half.
3. Cover the cake with about half of the patisserie ganache.
4. Pop the cake & the remaining ganache into the fridge for about half an hour to firm up a little.
5. Remove both from the fridge & put the remaining ganache into a piping bag with a medium sized star tip. Pipe 8 rosettes evenly spaced around the border of the cake.
6. Top each rosette with a hazelnut & a shard of the cocoa nib praline.