Icebox Hazelnut Cake with Chocolate and Tawny Port
A delicious, make ahead dessert worthy of entertaining.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 574kcal
Equipment
- 2 Loaf pans 4.5" X 8.5"
Ingredients
Hazelnut Sponge
- 1 Angel Food Cake mix
- 1 ½ cups roasted hazelnuts, skins removed chopped finely See Note 1 below.°
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 4 tablespoon Tawny Port optional
- 4 tablespoon maple syrup
Egg Custard
- 8 egg yolks reserve whites for other use.
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 Tbsps corn syrup
- 3 cups whipping cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup roasted, skinned hazelnuts finely chopped
- ½ cup grated bittersweet chocolate
Chocolate sauce
- 1 cup bitter sweeet chocolate in rough chunks
- ¼ cup whipping cream
Instructions
Hazelnut Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line an 11.5 X 17" rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray the parchment with cooking spray.
- Prepare Angel Food cake according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Add 1 ½ cups finely chopped hazelnuts and the ¼ cup melted butter the batter. Stir just enough to mix evenly.
- Spread batter out over the baking sheet.
- Bake 10-13 minutes until top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow cake to thoroughly cool. Remove parchment paper.
- Using your loaf pan bottom as a guide cut out 4 rectangles of the dough. You will have some left over.
Egg Custard
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium sauce pan. Add the corn syrup and mix well. Whisk in the whipping cream and heat to 170°F on a candy thermometer or until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and a finger swipe leaves a clean swath.
- Add the salt and vanilla. Remove from heat. Set pan in a sink of cold water to help it cool quickly. Refrigerate a few hours to allow the custard to thicken.
Assembly
- Line your loaf pans with plastic wrap with enough excess to be able to fold over the top of the assembled cake.
- Place a rectangle in the bottom of each pan. Brush the Tawny port/maple syrup mixture over the cake bottom. Spread half of the egg custard over each bottom. Brush the remaining 2 rectangles with more port/maple syrup. Place the last 2 rectangles, port side down over the filling.
- Gently cover the top with the excess plastic wrap.
- Freeze at least 4 hours or several days.
- Allow cake to sit at room temperature 20-30 minutes before serving.
- For the chocolate sauce, heat the whipping cream in the microwave and stir in the chocolate chunks. You may need to heat on medium heat to fully melt the chocolate. Heat one minute and stir thoroughly until the sauce is smooth and can be drizzled over the cake.
- Drizzle sauce over the cake just before serving. Slice cake and enjoy!
Notes
Note 1: To roast hazelnuts preheat oven to 350 . Lay hazelnuts out in single layer and roast 8-10 minutes. Watch carefully so they don't burn. Turn hot nuts out on to a clean tea towel. Fold the cloth over and gently rub cloth over the nuts and nuts together. Filter out the skins. Don't worry about the odd skin that sticks to a nut.
Nutrition
Calories: 574kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 229mg | Sodium: 230mg | Potassium: 258mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 1243IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 115mg | Iron: 1mg