Heaven = Nutella Cake

Okay, for those of you out there that love chocolate & hazelnuts...this is the cake for you!! It's a flourless chocolate cake that incorporates, you guessed it, Nutella. It is the perfect cake - not too heavy, delicate, and delicious. It's also not that difficult but very impressive sounding, so a good cake to take with you to a holiday party. The other beauty about this cake is it doesn't have very many ingredients! And...I'm not an expert, but I believe that it's flour-less status by default makes this gluten-free? Though I think the Nutella may make it not-so. If your really interested, you should Google it.

So here you have it:

Nutella Cake

Ingredients - For the Cake

• 6 large eggs, separated
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 - 13-oz container of Nutella
• 1 TBS rum
• 1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted & cooled

For the Ganache:

• 4 oz whole hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 TBS rum
• 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Getting down to baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; butter a 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a large bowl (preferably metal, but I use glass and it works out just fine), whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff. In another bowl, cream the butter & Nutella, then add the rum, egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the melted chocolate.
3. Add a blob of beaten egg whites to the chocolate batter, and mix gently until well-combined. Fold in the remaining eggs whites, one-third at a time, very gently but thoroughly. Pour into springform pan and bake for 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a tester, which should come out mostly clean; lightly pressing a finger into the top to check for a slight bouncing-back; and observing edges beginning to separate from the pan. Let cool completely, in the pan, on a rack.
4. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet, shaking them around frequently, for about 5 minutes or until they are lightly browned, then let cool completely. If the hazelnuts came with the skins on, put them in a kitchen towel after toasting and rub around; this will remove the skins, if you are diligent. I never have the patience, so just get as much skin off as I can and have partially-skinned hazelnuts crowning my cake.
5. Chop the chocolate, and add to a sauce pan with cream and rum over medium-low heat. Once the chocolate is melted and components are combined, whisk until the mixture reaches its desired thickness, then cool.
6. Remove the rim of the cake pan and pour cooled ganache over, spreading lightly to create a smooth, shiny surface, and apply hazelnuts all over. Let the ganache settle and meld with the top of the cake, resting for about an hour, before serving. Goes well with a nice cup of coffee!

Enjoy!!