Torta Gianduia - chocolate and hazelnut torte

Torta Gianduia is a speciality of the Piedmont region of Italy.  It’s a flourless cake, just made with ground hazelnuts, dark chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs – so was a great choice for a meal we cooked for my dad and step mum to celebrate their birthdays (they were born on the same day, two years apart) with my sister who is gluten-intolerant.  It’s rich but incredibly light and moist – definitely more of a torte than a cake.  I tarted it up with some homemade truffles on top, just made from Nutella and a splash of amaretto, rolled in cocoa powder.

  

Ingredients

For the torte

9 oz whole hazelnuts

7 oz butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing

7 oz dark chocolate, broken into squares

6 medium eggs, separated

7 oz caster sugar, preferably golden

3 tbsp amaretto liqueur

To decorate

5 oz Nutella chocolate and hazelnut spread

5 tbsp cocoa, plus extra for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, and butter and line a 9 inch springform cake tin.
2. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast them in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes, giving the pan a shake halfway through, until they are golden brown. Watch them carefully so that they don’t burn. Remove and leave them to cool for a few minutes.
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C.
4. Set aside 2 oz of the hazelnuts, and blitz the remaining 7 oz of hazelnuts in a food processor until they are finely ground.
5. Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir occasionally and as soon as nearly all the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan and continue to let the chocolate melt in the residual heat.
6. Stir in the ground hazelnuts and leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
7. In a separate, large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and creamy.
8. Stir the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.
9. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
10. Working quickly, stir the amaretto into the chocolate mixture to soften.
11. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the whisked egg whites and stir until thoroughly combined, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
12. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 35–40 minutes or until the cake is well risen and firm.
13. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, before inverting onto a serving plate to cool completely.
14. Meanwhile, make the truffles: Melt the Nutella and amaretto in the microwave for 10 seconds, leave to cool for a minute, and then scoop small spoonfuls and roll them into balls.  Place the cocoa in a shallow bowl and roll the Nutella balls in it until well coated.
15. When the cake is cold, decorate it with the truffles, dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle with the reserved hazelnuts.

Adapted from the Hairy Biker’s Chocolate and hazelnutcake