hazelnut cake with chocolate buttercream

Method

Preheat oven to 180° C. Grease two round cake pans with a diameter of 20 cm. For the hazelnut garnish: Bake hazelnuts on a baking tray for about 5 minutes in the oven. Take them out and wrap the hazelnuts in a dishcloth and let cool off for about 10 minutes. Rub the cloth firmly on the hazelnuts until the peel drops off. Coarsely chop the hazelnuts and set aside for later.

For the biscuit dough: Mix sugar and margarine in a bowl with a pedal mixer until well blended. Gradually stir in the eggs. In a second bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder and vanilla together. Alternately by mixing the flour and the almond milk into the batter, mix after each step. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes in the oven or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake and let cool off. Cut both biscuits lengthwise so that you will have four disks, straighten the tops if necessary.

For the hazelnut chocolate buttercream: Mix the nut nougat cream and the margarine with a mixer at high speed until the mixture is well combined. Sprinkle the ground coconut sugar or powdered sugar slowly in and mix well for about 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and creamy. In case the buttercream is kept in the fridge for a while, just take it 15 minutes before use out and let soften under room temperature.

Cake assembly: To finish the cake of, spread some of the buttercream over a biscuit disk, add another biscuit on top and spread the buttercream back on again, repeat that step two more times. Use the leftover buttercream for the sides of the cake and garnish with toasted hazelnuts. Cut the cake into slices and serve!