Nigella’s Torta Alla Gianduja

SO since I’ve closed down the old old OLD blog (foodaholic.wordpress.com) I’ve decided to pick some of my fav cakes from there and republish them here. I didn’t steal from anyone else since the watermark is different, but it was mine anyway..

This one is amazingly good. I just feel the urge to make this but u know, I can NOT be eating cakes every single day. !! *faints* But enjoy this post 🙂

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Nevermind the fact that I’m always amazed with anything that contains “gianduja”. Think Nutella and Ferrero Rocher

For me, hazelnuts are the next best thing to pistachio, if not, actually both are my favourite nuts! I can still remember the amateurish Pistachio Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Ferrero Rocher I made long time ago, pistachio ice cream, gianduja chocolate cannelloni, and the ever-cool Chocolate Croquembouche with assortments of chocolate truffle. But the problem here is that, hazelnuts and pistachios are rather expensive compared to other nuts like almond, cashew and walnuts. (Hey, there’s a price to pay for good stuff)

I hooked up with Nigella’s Torta Alla Gianduja from her How to be a Domestic Goddess bakebook. The picture looks amazingly attractive and rich. I wanted to take Hugh’s recipe when he challenged Gordon Ramsay in The F Word show going on now in 703 or 707. But couldn’t really find it. Oh no, wait. That was actually a Chocolate Chestnut cake. Not hazelnut. Anyway…

I decided to make them into mini cakes rather than a huge cakes because it’s easier to share this way. I used my canele-look-a-like flexipan mould for this cake.

Torta Alla Gianduja

6 large eggs, seperated
pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella (1 large jar, yes you’ve read it right its 400g)
1 tbsp Frangelico
100g ground hazelnut
100g dark couverture chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Whisk egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry.
3. Meanwhile, beat butter and Nutella together in another bowl. Add in Frangelico, egg yolk and ground hazelnuts.
4. Fold in cooled, melted chocolate and then lighten the mixture with a dollop of egg white.
5. Gently fold in egg whites a third at a time. Pour into prepared tin and cook for 30-40 minutes depending on size of mould or until the cake is beginning to come away at the sides.
6. Cool on rack
7. Serve with ganache and toasted peeled hazelnut.

*Tip: If you buy unpeeled hazelnuts, roast them in oven first. Then put them in between a dry cloth and rub them. The skin will peel off easily. Return to roast those which needed further roastings.

Perhaps it was a wise move to make them into mini sizes because they were so rich. SO RICH! but it was awesome.  It should replace the choc pistachio cake as my favourite chocolate-nut cake.

And with the drizzling Frangelico infused ganache. its just awesome.