It's best to make and assemble this stunning layer cake at least one day in advance to let the chocolate, nut, and brandy flavors meld.
Ingredients
Makes 10 to 12 servings
Praline chocolate crunch:
Cocoa sponge cake:
Nut ganache:
Praline mousse:
Assembly:
For praline chocolate crunch:
Step 1
Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until amber in color, 7-8 minutes. Stir in hazelnuts, then pour onto 1 prepared sheet, separating nuts. Let cool.
Step 2
Transfer candied nuts to a food processor. Add hazelnut oil and purée until smooth to make praline paste.
Step 3
Combine both chocolates and 3 tablespoons praline paste in a medium metal bowl (reserve remaining praline paste for praline mousse layer). Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in salt, then cereal. Spread out in a thin layer (about 1/8") on second prepared baking sheet. Chill until set, about 30 minutes.DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled. Cover and chill remaining praline paste.
For cake:
Step 4
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 17x11x1" sheet pan with parchment paper; butter paper. Sift flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl and set aside. Separate 4 eggs, placing yolks in a large bowl and whites in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat yolks with 1/2 cup sugar on medium speed until thick and light yellow, about 3 minutes. Beat in 4 whole eggs, one at a time, blending well between additions.
Step 5
Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites with remaining 1/2 cup sugar and corn syrup until slightly thickened and frothy, about 2 minutes. Add egg-white mixture to egg-yolk mixture and beat to blend. Add flour-cocoa powder mixture; fold just to blend. Spread out evenly on prepared baking sheet.
Step 6
Bake until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely. Invert cake onto a large cutting board or baking sheet and peel off parchment. Brush cake all over with brandy. DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
For nut ganache:
Step 7
Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Purée hot cream, hazelnut butter, and salt in a food processor. Let cool to room temperature. With machine running, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, puréeing until smooth between additions. DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Return to room temperature before using.
Praline Mousse:
Step 8
Combine chocolate, praline paste, and butter in a medium bowl. Bring 3/4 cup cream to a boil in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate mixture. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir until melted and smooth. Beat remaining 1 cup chilled cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Assembly:
Step 9
Spread nut ganache over cake and chill in freezer until set, about 15 minutes. Spread mousse over ganache and chill in freezer until set, about 15 minutes. Cut cake crosswise into thirds; stack layers on top of each other. Trim edges, then spreadChocolate Glazeepi:recipelinkover top and sides of cake. Freeze until set, about 1 hour. Place in refrigerator and chill overnight. DO AHEAD:Can be made 2 days ahead. Tent with foil and keep chilled.
Step 10
Let cake stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Break up praline chocolate crunch into large shards and arrange on top of cake. Garnish with roasted hazelnuts.
How would you rate Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Praline Chocolate Crunch?
Leave a Review
Reviews (13)
Back to Top好的因为epicu万博官网rious不让你改变或update your review, I had to write another one. The cake tasted good the next day...when it had time to sit some time. But I still think the cake was pretty dry ....and i still think its too much work for the cake. As some other reviewer said, its a challenging cake. And you learn some new techniques. But will I make it again....well not likely....unless someone asks for it specially. But my friends loved it. So I came back to change my review.
shimmering
budd lake, nj
6/26/2012
First of all the cake is not worth the effort. For the amount of work that goes into it, it tastes blah. The cake is dry. I know its a sponge cake, but still its dry. The mouse filling is very runny especially on hot days. My cake layers were literally sliding down. I was not able to taste the hazelnut much. I worked on it for two days...and it was not worth it. Will not make again. I learned a lot of techniques though. I would rather have made a chocolate cake with ganache frosting.
shimmering
budd lake, nj
6/21/2012
Forgot to mention this took me around 10-11 hrs over two days. It's a "challenge yourself" recipe :-) Epicurious really should let us edit our own reviews :-P
kenyee
Boston, MA
2/23/2012
博士指出,一些人表示,海绵蛋糕y so I only cooked it 12min (15 would have been far too long...I probably could have stopped at 10min). It's also important to assemble it and let it rest for 2 days...the sponge cake absorbs moisture from the mousse. Only thing I can complain about is the sides aren't pretty...you just can't get the ganache to stick very well even though the cake is frozen. Maybe if you chill half the ganache a bit, you might be able to stick it on the sides, but it's probably simpler to just take some chopped toasted hazelnuts and glue it to the sides. For the chocolate ganache, I used 8oz chocolate, 1c cream, 1TB corn syrup, and 2TB diced warm butter.
kenyee
Boston, MA
2/23/2012
Delectable cake! I wanted to make this into a Buche de Noel for Christmas Eve so I used a "flourless chocolate souffle sheet cake" from Joy of Cooking. However, I used the ganache, mousse, crunch and glaze recipes as is and the combination of the flavors was amazing. I am a hazelnut-praline junkie and have been searching for a really great hazelnut-praline dessert for awhile. It worked great as a Buche de Noel. I brushed the sheet w/ a simple syrup flavored w/ Penzey's orange extract and then layered the nut ganache. Chilled in the fridge. Layered the mousse and let chill in the fridge. I rolled the sheet into a "log" and then chilled in the fridge for an hour or so. I also chilled the glaze in the fridge for 45-60 minutes in the fridge and it worked beautifully. I decorated the top of the buche de noel with the crunch and it looked just like bark! Yes the recipe is a bit time consuming, but it was JUST what I was looking for! LOVE IT! My guests also thought it was great!
rjones
washougal, wa
12/27/2011
I don't know if it's just me or if it's everyone else that got a super hard cake that tasted horrible. Just didn't work for me, used a different recipe. Hazlenut butter is lovely, praline crunch is all right. Cake, use your own recipe. Glaze use a different recipe. Too troublesome to make unless you have all the time in the world.
kemos
Sg
12/24/2011
This brought the wow factor! It is a long process to make the cake, but if you do it ahead, crunch time isn't an issue. Blanched hazelnuts were impossible to find, so just toasted and rubbed off the skin. Also couldn't find hazelnut butter, so made my own (search epicurious for a recipe). As others noted, recipe doesn't specify to brush brandy over the top of the cake (not the side that was in the pan). Overall, a great cake to learn multiple techniques, and to show off once you are done! And really really delicious.
meghanpholmes
Chanhassen, MN
12/15/2011
This cake is way too much trouble for the results. I would rather have a jar of Nutella on some chocolate cake for the trouble and time this cake takes. Recipe has some confusing terms.
Anonymous
Texas
12/9/2011
Admittedly, I can't fairly review the complete recipe because I cobbled together chocolate praline crunch cupcakes instead of this exact cake. I did, however, make the chocolate crunch and the hazelnut mousse from this recipe, and both were heavenly. The only suggestion I would make is that if you're using organic puffed rice cereal instead of Rice Krispies, then crush them a little first. And reduce the amount of cereal. I somehow ended up with way more cereal than chocolate, and the crunch, while delicious, didn't come together too well. In the end, I made chocolate cupcakes from another recipe, frosted them with this hazelnut mousse, and topped each cupcake with a shard of chocolate crunch and a couple of toasted hazelnuts. They were a hit at the party I brought these to, and I even received a marriage proposal after a guest tried a cupcake.
Anonymous
Austin, TX
10/31/2011
This cake is a little too "fiddly" and complicated although impressive once cut. I made it for our cooking group, and the multiple steps took way more hours than it was worth. The "shards" could not be added until just before serving so the "look" was just that of a large chocolate loaf cake up to that point. I ended up serving it with praline- crunch ice cream and jutting the shards out of that. People all enjoyed the result. Two minor points: 1. the 17" x 11" sheet pan didn't fit easily on the shelf of my side- by-side Subzero; fortunately the sponge cake was solid enough that a little tilting to get it in was all right but frustrating by the third time in the freezer. 2. The instructions about brushing the cooled sponge cake with 1/2 cup of brandy or orange liqueur didn't specifically state that you had to flip the cake BACK over after removing the parchment and brushing the first side---the amount of brandy made it clear that must be the right technique.
Anonymous
Salem Oregon
10/16/2011
This recipe would have rated 4 forks but for the glaze which did not set up properly. Even after an overnight in the frig it had the consistency of a sauce. I tried to compensate by freezing the assembled cake and applying layers of glaze with trips back to the freezer in between. Everyone loved the "crunch" garnish,which I will make even without hte cake. I would make cake again, but will look for a better glaze recipe
Lisa_from_NH
Chichester, NH
10/4/2011
@ A Cook There is no recipe for Chocolate Glaze included in this recipe because it was separate in the magazine. Of course, no one would know this unless they had the actual magazine. The Chocolate Glaze recipe (from the same issue!) linked... //m.fonts4kids.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Glaze-367733
Ceiface
Phx
9/26/2011
okay...Is my computer playing tricks on me? or is there not a recipe for the chocolate glaze?
Anonymous
9/25/2011
