Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Mousse

I don’t usually bake things, let alone from scratch.  But when we were in Paris, I ate far too many crepes avec Nutella et banane and came away with a not-so-secret desire to eat more Nutella.  That’s why, when I saw this recipe in Scholastic Parents magazine, I knew I should make it to celebrate our friend Kami’s birthday.

And let me tell you, it was delicious.  (I paired it with these sweet potato and chorizo enchiladas, and by the end of the meal, we’d all eaten so much and so well, we all wished we’d worn pants with elastic waistbands.)

Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Mousse

Ingredients for the cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

1 1/2 cups unhusked hazelnuts, toasted

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup hazelnut paste (I couldn’t find this and was too lazy to make hazelnut paste, so I used peanut butter and cut back a bit on the butter in the cake)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Ingredients for the mousse

1 1/2 cups Nutella

1/2 cup of mascarpone or cream cheese (I used cream cheese)

1 cup of heavy cream, chilled

Directions for the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter and flour a 9″ round or square baking pan.

2. In a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts until coarsely chopped and set them aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, hazelnut paste, and vanilla.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Then beat in eggs one at a time.  (I used our KitchenAide stand mixer, which made this really easy.)

4. Add the baking podwer, salt, and cocoa, and beat to combine.  Gradually add the flour, stopping when it is just combines.  Fold 1 cup of the chopped hazelnuts into the batter, reserving the rest for garnish.  (I accidentally forgot to fold the nuts into the batter, so I sprinkled some on top of the batter once I had it in the pan.  I also had a bit of a crunch in the cake because the peanut butter I used was chunky.)

5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cake cool for 10 minutes, remove fro the pan and let cool completely.

Directions for the mousse

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Nutella and mascarpone.

2. In another large bowl, beat heavy cream to soft peaks.  Add a spoonful to the Nutella mixture and stir until you don’t see any streaks.

3. Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the remaining whipped cream into the mixture.  Lift the mixture gently from underneath, bring the spatula up, turn it over, and fold the mixture over as you rotate the bowl slowly.  Do this gently so it stays fluffy.  Repeat two more times with the remaining whipped cream until you have a fluffy, homogenous mixture.

To assemble the pieces

1. Cut the cake into 3″ squares or rounds and cut each of these in half equatorially.  (I didn’t do this, and instead just cut my cake in half equatorially.)

2. Schmear the mousse on each half, then sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Place top half on bottom half and serve.