Ive been looking for a good hazelnut cake recipe for a few weeks now. When I went shopping for the macaroons I made a few weeks ago I also bought a bunch of hazelnut meal. i dont know, maybe its the italian in me but i really really really love hazelnuts. After lurking countless baking blogs i remembered that I had the perfect recipe in one of my cookbooks! A marionberry-hazelnut cake. Marionberries? thanks to google I now know that its just a variety of blackberry. So blackberries it is.
The recipe said to bake the cake for 35-40 minute but I needed to bake mine for 55 min. Normally my oven bakes fast because its pretty old but this one took extra time… I would highly suggest testing the cake with a cake tester or a toothpick before taking it out of the oven.
This cake was really good. really really good. Nearly half is gone already (no i didnt eat it all myself) and I only made it an hour ago!!
I was a little confused by this cake. The batter reminded me so much of fall..with the toasted nuts and cinnamon, but berries are a summer fruit. I bought my fresh blackberries on sale because they are out of season, therefore expensive, but you could totally use frozen if you want. I suppose you could make this in the summer, but I might swap the hazelnut meal for almond meal and the cinnamon for lemon zest. Just a thought.
BLACKBERRY HAZELNUT CAKE
- 1 1/4 cups ground hazelnut meal
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/3 cup hazelnuts toasted, skinned, and chopped
- preheat oven to 325°
- butter and flour a 9 in round springform pan
- scatter the nut meal on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes or until lightly toasted then let cool
- increase the oven temperature to 350°
- in a large bowl, cream the butter , all the granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar until light and fluffy
- add the eggs, one at a time and the almond extract then beat till smooth
- in a medium bowl, mix the hazelnut meal, flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. stir to blend.
- gradually add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until smooth
- spread batter evenly in prepared pan
- scatter the berries evenly across the top of the batter
- toss the remaining cinnamon, brown sugar, and chopped hazelnuts and sprinkle over the top
- bake for 35-50 minutes (it just depends on your oven so be sure to check it!) cake is done when cake tester comes out clean
- let cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes then remove the spring form pan
- serve warm or at room temperature.
extra good with a little vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!!!
recipe adapted from coffee cakes
Sweet toof 