NUTS ABOUT CHOCOLATE.

I'm a woman of my word; I said there would be chocolate so chocolate there is. The combination of wholemeal flour, ground and chopped hazelnuts makes this a cake with quite a bit of bite. The chocolate is not melted and folded through the batter but appears in molten pockets or bittersweet chunks, depending on whether you are eating it hot or cold. The recipe comes from Tamasin's Weekend Food and I didn't fiddle, though next time after I sieve the flour, I think I might hold back the larger bran bits. You could easily replace the wholemeal flour with plain flour if the thoughts of virtuous fibre combined with immoral chocolate horrifies you. I like the added nuttiness so I will continue taking advantage of the extra roughage (too much information?).

Tamasin recommends eating it warm with cream. I disagree slightly, I think it tastes best at whatever temperature it happens to be when you pass by.

WHOLEMEAL CHOCOLATE & HAZELNUT CAKE

• 170g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 170g light muscavado sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp milk
• 170g wholemeal flour, sifted
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 200g best quality chocolate, chopped quite finely
• 110g ground hazelnuts
• 30g chopped hazelnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease and line a 18cm/7inch cake tin. Use a spring form if possible to make the cake easier to remove.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating between each addition. Fold in milk, sifted flour and baking powder, mixing them well. Add 125g of the chopped chocolate along with the ground hazelnuts and fold in again. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the remaining chocolate and chopped hazelnuts on top.
3. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (you'll have to put the skewer in at an angle so you can distinguish between the molten chocolate topping and wet cake batter!) After the first hour, cover the cake with a sheet of greaseproof paper to stop the nuts from burning.
4. Leave to cool slightly in the tin then carefully release the clip and leave to cool further on a wire rack. Serve warm on a plate with cream or cold from your hand.

Makes 1 x 7inch cake serving 6-8 (but more like 6).

Comments

[Sarah Bell]

Hmm love chocolate and hazelnuts and with wholemeal flour it's practically health food!!

[leonine]

my gosh, your chocolate cakes look terrible!