Hazelnut Gateau
A decedent little foray into dessert heaven. This delicious Hazelnut Gateau is light and complex at the same time. It is gluten free and can be dairy free by using Cashew Cream in place of heavy cream. Don’t forget to make the Berry Sauce to got with it. It looks beautiful pooled underneath the whole cake or just a slice.
Hazelnut Gateau
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6 servings
This is a finicky little cake but very good if you can pull it off. It takes time to fold the ingredients together. Do not open the oven during cooking or it will fall. Weigh the ingredients carefully.
Ingredients
- 4 Egg Whites
- 250 grams fine Sugar
- 1 Vanilla Bean, scraped (use only the scraped insides)
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Distilled Malt Vinegar
- 150 grams Skinned Hazelnuts, ground to flour
Assembly and Decoration
- 225 grams Blackcurrants, Huckleberries or Raspberries
- 75 grams Sugar
- 1 cup Whipping Cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Whole Hazelnuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 355f or 180c. Line sides and base of 2 springform or 7inch round pans with parchment
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff, gradually whisk in sugar a bit at a time until stiff peaks form
- Add the Vanilla Bean Scrapings to 1 teaspoon Sugar and mix well, then gently fold this and the Malt Vinegar into the Egg white mixture
- Gently fold in the Ground Hazelnuts using a flat flexible spatula. Be patient and fold very gently until combined keeping lots of air and loft to it
- Pour the mixture into prepared pans, distributing evenly, gently level them off
- Bake 30-40 minutes
- Cool completely on wire racks and remove from pans
Decorating
- Place the Berries in a saucepan with sugar and a bit of water. Simmer about 10 minutes until they are soft
- Process them through a fine mesh sieve
- Whisk Whipping Cream until it holds peaks
- Sandwich the cakes together using the Whipped Cream
- Dust with Powdered Sugar
- Pipe with additional Cream and top with Berries and/or whole Hazelnuts
- Serve with Berry Sauce underneath the cake, on the side or a drizzle over each slice
Notes
You can make this Dairy free by using Cashew Cream instead of the Whipped Cream. Simply soak 1 cup of raw Cashews for 4 hours. Drain and process in a high speed blender adding 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup and 1/4-1/2 cup cold water. Process until it is the consistency of whipped cream. You can also use a Berry Compote or Jam to sandwich the layers.
Was looking for cashew cream and found it here. Used this as a basic recipe for “key lime” cream. Added zest of one lime plus 2teaspoons fresh lime juice, and substituted the maple syrup with triple sec. Yum…thanks for all your great recipes. Trying the whole cake next time…
I have a cashew cream video coming up soon.