For Mom’s birthday, I gave her a list of options of “celebration desserts” I’d been wanting to try, and she picked the hazelnut brown butter cake from Smitten Kitchen.  (I know, you’re probably starting to think that’s the only place I ever get ideas.  Maybe I have a little food crush?  I actually found this one via Not Derby Pie though.)  This cake was fantastic — nutty, dense and almost chewy but not too heavy, just sweet and rich enough.  I have to admit, I was worried this wasn’t going to be chocolatey enough for a birthday cake for Mom. (A couple years ago I made this torte, which is basically just chocolate, butter, and cream.  We could barely stick in the candles.)  But here, the layer of ganache, while thin, was dark and rich enough that it was just perfect.  And wait until you see what I did with the leftover hazelnuts, coming later this week!

I made caramelized hazelnuts to decorate the top, using instructions from Tartelette.  However, I thought some pictures were in order to better illustrate the technique, so I’ve detailed what I did after the jump.  If you want the recipe for the cake, I’ll send you over to the Smitten Kitchen.  By the way, the cake has very little flour in it, so I think it could probably be made gluten free pretty easily.

Caramelized Hazelnuts

Adapted from Tartelette.

about 15 hazelnuts, plus more for praline
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water

Toast hazelnuts and remove their skins (which are bitter). I did this by baking them at 350 F for about 8 minutes, until fragrant and barely browned. Then I wrapped them in a kitchen towel for a few minutes, and then rubbed them with the towel. For the most parts, their skins then came off pretty easily, and if there were a few tough bits to get off, I just didn’t worry about them.

Skewer about 15 hazelnuts onto toothpicks. You want to stick them on pretty good, so they don’t fall off once you dip them in the caramel. If you also want to make praline (like the pieces in the center of the cake), chop up some extra hazelnuts.

Suspend a piece of styrofoam or cardboard, so you can stick the toothpicks in it upside down after you dip the hazelnuts in the caramel, so that their little trails end up pointing up out of the top of the hazelnut. (I think styrofoam would work best, but all I had was cardboard.)

Before making the caramel, prepare a bowl of ice water that you could quickly plunge your hand in if you get the hot sugar on yourself. Stir together the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat to medium. Cook, without stirring, and watching carefully, until the caramel colors and smells like, well, caramel. This will probably take about 15 minutes, but once it’s there, it can very quickly get burnt, so keep an eye on it. Turn off the heat, and quickly dip each hazelnut in caramel, turn it upside down, and stick the other end of the toothpick in the styrofoam or cardboard.

You will probably have extra caramel, which you can use to make praline. If the caramel has gotten too thick, gently reheat it until you can pour it over the remaining chopped hazelnuts.

Allow the hazelnuts and praline to cool completely before removing the toothpicks and breaking the praline into pieces. The trails from the tops of the hazelnuts are very fragile. Also, they may flop over if the caramel isn’t all the way cooled before they are turned right side up.

Tags: Cake, Dessert, gluten free, nuts

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