Hazelnut Coffee Layer Cake
I dreamt up this cake to celebrate a very dear friend’s 70th birthday. It’s light and fluffy and just the right amount of sweet. Three layers of cake flavored with TWO kinds of coffee sandwich layers of hazelnut paste and the whole thing gets frosted with whipped mascarpone and dusted with cocoa powder for a distinctly tiramisu-like flavor. I topped mine with dark chocolate shavings and chocolate covered espresso beans. This recipe makes one three-layer 6 inch cake with some batter left over, but could also make a slightly shorter 8 inch cake.
Ingredients
Coffee cake:
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
Mascarpone frosting:
8 ounces mascarpone
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Hazelnut paste:
4 ounces hazelnuts, roasted and unseasoned
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Directions
Start by making your cake. Preheat your oven to 375F and grease a 6 inch round cake tin.
In a medium bowl, whisk your eggs thoroughly until light in color, 3-4 minutes by hand.
Add your sugar, oil, milk, coffee, and vanilla, whisk until completely incorporated.
Sift in your flour, baking powder, and espresso powder, and mix until no clumps of flour are visible.
Pour your batter into your cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack until no longer hot to the touch. Then, chill in the refrigerator while you make your fillings.
To make the hazelnut paste, soak your shelled hazelnuts in hot water for a couple of minutes to help you remove the papery brown skins. Once they’re clean, drain them and pour them into the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse until the hazelnuts are fine and sandy, then add your butter and brown sugar and process until you have a paste. It will not be completely smooth, but there shouldn’t be any chunks.
Spoon the filling into a piping bag or ziplock bag and chill.
To make the mascarpone frosting, whip the mascarpone, vanilla, and sugar in a small bowl for 1-2 minutes. Spoon into another piping/ziplock bag and chill for at least 15 minutes.
Once your cake is completely cool, carefully cut it into two or three layers (depending on your preference and your comfort stacking cake layers). If all three layers feel completely cold in the center, proceed with decorating. If not, chill them again until they do. If your cake layers feel at all dried out, you can brush them lightly with simple syrup (if you’re not planning to eat the cake the same day, I would do this regardless).
To decorate, place your bottom layer on a cake stand or flat board. Pipe a thick layer of the hazelnut paste in a spiral from the center until about one inch away from the edge of the cake. Fill in the perimeter by piping a thick circle of the mascarpone. Smooth with an icing spatula if necessary.
Place the middle layer of cake on top and repeat with the fillings, then top with the final layer, being mindful of how you’re setting down your layers and making sure it doesn’t begin to lean.
Pipe the mascarpone frosting thickly over the top and sides and smooth into a thin layer, effectively crumb-coating the cake. Let it chill for at least 30 minutes.
Once the cake has chilled, pipe on the remaining butter cream and smooth it out. It may not end up being completely even, but this is meant to be a rustic-looking cake, so that’s okay.
You can either dust the entire cake with cocoa powder, or just the sides, like I did. To dust the sides, cut a piece of wax paper or parchment paper to protect the top of the cake. Then, tilt the cake stand, gently holding the top of the cake which is covered by the paper to keep it from slipping, and dust the sides with cocoa powder. Carefully peel off the paper and re-smooth the frosting with a spatula.
Decorate as desired- I went with shavings from a block of frozen dark chocolate, and chocolate-covered espresso beans. Enjoy!
