Since there’s only two of us in my household, fancy desserts are not something I make all that regularly at home. I tend to save them for dinner guests or special occasions. Plus The Boyfriend is the one with the real sweet tooth so he’s the one that will usually jump on the opportunity to make a pudding rather than me. However, on his actual birthday I couldn’t exactly expect him to make his own cake!
Since he’s gone gluten-free I was struggling with ideas, unsure whether to go for a gluten-free cake or throw tradition out of the window and do something like a cheesecake I began to scour the cookbooks and magazines for ideas. Eventually my mother gave me this recipe and this rich and indulgent dessert became The Boyfriend’s birthday cake this year.
It was really easy to make and whilst it’s ideal to leave it over night to set in the fridge, Due to bad planning I ended up only leaving it a few hours and it came out perfectly fine. This is n ideal dessert to serve to guests and with the upcoming festive season I think it would work perfectly for a festive dinner party or an alternative to your Christmas pudding on Christmas Day.
Ingredients
For the base:
85g butter
100g whole hazelnuts
85g light muscavado sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
Generous pinch of sea salt
For the topping:
600ml double cream
400g dark chocolate, finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, cubed
2tbsp rum or brandy
2 tbsp liquid glucose
To decorate:
Cocoa powder
Edible gold spray and/or glitter
Method
1. Grease a round 23cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
2. Heat the oven to 180ºC and roast the hazelnuts in a dry tin for around 5 minutes. Allow them to cool and then set aside a small handful for decoration, roughly chop the rest.
3. In a small pan melt the butter, add the sugar and golden syrup and stir continuously until thickened.
4. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts and salt and then pour the mixture into the cake tin ensuring it’s spread evenly across the base. Place in the fridge to cool while you make the topping.
5. Bring the double cream to the boil in a large pan.
6. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, butter, rum and glucose. Begin stirring slowly until the mixture is well combined.
7. Pour the chocolate mixture over the hazelnut mixture that’s set in the tin. Cover and return to the fridge to cool. Ideally this should be left over night to set, but a minimum of three hours should do.
8. When completely cooled, use a wet palette knife to run around the inside edge of the tin. Gently release the springform tin and move onto a serving plate, removing the paper as you go.
9. To decorate cover with gold spray or glitter. Use a sieve to dust half the torte with cocoa powder and create an attractive design using the reserved whole hazelnuts.
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