Hazelnut Praline Cake
It was about time I came out with a cake recipe - it’s been a while. And what a cake! What flavors! What textures! And that cross-section!
Alright, enough bragging. Long story short: this cake is all about lots of hazelnuts (hazelnut sponge layers, hazelnut praline, vanilla cream with hazelnut praline), vanilla (yes, I said it already), chocolate (okay, cocoa - close enough), and a texture that makes you go back for another forkful. And another. And another!
For an 18 cm diameter cake, approx. 3 kg:
Vanilla Cream:
225 g milk
Heat the milk while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.6 egg yolks
20 g starch
90 g sugar
8 g vanilla
Whisk the ingredients together, then pour the hot milk over them to temper. Put everything back on the heat and cook until the cream boils, thickens, and becomes glossy.
Transfer the cream to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate.
200 g butter
150 g hazelnut praline (see recipe below)
When you’re ready to fill the cake, whip the softened butter in a stand mixer, then add the cold cream from the fridge and whip again until fully incorporated. Add the praline and whip once more.
Cocoa Cream:
240 g milk
Heat the milk while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.16 g starch
16 g cocoa powder
90 g sugar
Mix them together and gradually pour in the hot milk, starting by forming a thick paste and thinning it little by little. This prevents cocoa lumps.
4 egg yolks
Add the yolks and mix well, then return everything to the heat and cook until the cream boils, thickens, and becomes glossy.
120 g butter
Add the cold butter to the cream, mixing until incorporated. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate.
Hazelnut Praline:
170 g sugar
170 g roasted hazelnuts
Put the sugar in a saucepan and melt it over low heat, then pour it onto baking paper or a silicone mat. Once the sugar has cooled, place it in a food processor together with the hazelnuts and process until you obtain a fairly fluid paste that still has a bit of crunchy texture.
Cake Layers:
The quantities below are for a 32×32 cm pan, from which you can cut 3 layers of 18 cm diameter. You will need to bake 3 sheets of 32×32 cm to obtain the 8 layers needed in total.
165 g egg whites
110 g sugar
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on medium speed. When they start to increase in volume, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a stable, glossy meringue with no remaining sugar crystals.
53 g flour
110 g roasted hazelnuts
Put the ingredients in a food processor and process until you get a fine flour that still contains small pieces of hazelnuts. Fold this into the meringue using gentle movements to preserve as much air as possible, spread into a 32×32 cm pan, and bake for about 17 minutes at 175°C with fan.
Once the sponge has cooled, cut out 18 cm diameter circles (it’s fine if one of the layers is made up of several pieces).
Assembly:
Assemble the cake starting with one sponge layer, then 175 g vanilla cream with praline, another sponge layer, 175 g cocoa cream, on top of which you add 50 g praline (placed more toward the center of the cake, like an insert), another sponge layer, 175 g vanilla cream with praline, and so on.
After assembling, refrigerate the cake for 6–8 hours.
Praline cake section
In total, 8 sponge layers and 7 cream layers, of which 4 are vanilla cream with praline and 3 are cocoa cream with a praline insert, alternating between them.
For the coating cream – Chocolate Cream Cheese:
135 g butter
90 g powdered sugar
Place them in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until the butter becomes airy and lighter in color.
337 g cream cheese
Add the cold cream cheese and mix until smooth.
150 g 55% chocolate
150 g whipping cream
Melt the chocolate and cream together to obtain a ganache. Let it cool slightly, but keep it fluid. Pour the ganache over the cream cheese mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Use the cream to coat the cake. For decoration, I used Ferrero chocolates, chocolate, and hazelnuts.
