Italian Hazelnut Cake with Whipped Cream and Nutella - photo by Alex Berlingeri
From Susan: We spent a fun Sunday evening at the home of our good friends, the Berlingeris, chowing down on, yes, more fish tacos! Alex prepared the fish Mediterranean-style; he used bronzino and striped bass fillets – some coated in panko, some not – sauteed in olive oil with garlic and shallots. Our contribution was bean and corn salad and an easy dessert – lemon and mango sorbets with sliced strawberries and crumbled meringues. But the piece de resistance of the feast was teenage daughter Alexandra’s spectacular hazelnut cake. An accomplished baker, she translated the recipe from an Italian cookbook as a project for her Italian class. The resulting cake was moist and delicious on its own, but after half of it was set aside to bring to school, her dad got creative and added significantly to the calorie count with a glaze of honey-infused simple syrup (left over from making cocktails!), a slather of whipped cream and a drizzle of melted Nutella. Now that’s La Dolce Vita!
Alexandra Berlingeri’s Hazelnut Cake
1 1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 1/3 cup of flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/3 cup of sugar
3 eggs
7 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. cocoa powder
2-3 tsp. rum
1 sachet of vanilla sugar (available in the baking aisle of most supermarkets)
Spread out the hazelnuts on a sheet pan and turn the oven to 400. Put the nuts in the oven until slightly toasted. When cool, chop finely in a food processor.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.
Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, mix the eggs and sugar at high speed until very thick and light. Add the butter a bit at a time and mix well until completely incorporated. On a slower speed, add the flour a little at a time, then mix in the milk, rum, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder and hazelnuts.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Level the top of the batter and bake the cake at 350 for a little less than an hour. Let cool before removing from pan and serving.
