Nutella Almond Cake (Nigella Lawson)

When Annie from Annielicious Food posted this cake, I knew this was the cake I would make for my sis' bday. She's a die hard fan of Nutella :)
Her bday was on June 1. Sorry sis for the late posting :P

I didn't decorate the cake, only poured the ganache on top and kept it refrigerated to set
Then the bday girl bought macarons from TWG for added kick. Yumz :P


The two pics below taken on the bday night during the singing and candle blowing :)

 

 

The rest of the pics below taken the morning after :)

 

Recipe originally adapted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess book

What you need:

The cake:
6 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella
1 tbsp dark rum
100g ground hazelnut (I used almond)
100g dark chocolate, melted

The icing:
100g whole toasted hazelnuts - for decoration (I didn't use)
125ml whipping cream
1 tbsp rum
125g dark chocolate

How to make the icing:
In a saucepan, add the cream, rum and chopped chocolate, and heat gently under low fire
Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat, leave it cool down a bit and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake

How to make the cake:

1. Melt chocolate using double boiling method. Once chocolate begins to melt, stir it gently with spatula. When almost all of the chocolate is melted, lift up the bowl from the saucepan. Stir continuously until it is shiny, smooth and completely melted. Set aside and leave it cool before use
2. Prepare a 9 inch spring form tin, greased and lined (I used 8 inch and poured some of the batter in cupcake cases)
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degree
4. In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff, but not dry
5. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add rum, egg yolk and ground almond
6. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate, followed by a large dollop of egg white, stir well and then gently folding the rest of the egg whites in a third at a time
7. Pour into the prepared tin and bake it for 40 mins or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides
8. Let the cake cool on a rack completely before you unmould them carefully. This is a damp cake, you might find it a bit difficult removing it from the tin
9. The cake will collapse a bit once it's cooled
10. Pour icing on the cake and keep it refrigerated to set
11. Decorate as wished

Not only the bday girl enjoyed this cake so much, the whole family did!