Nutty cake

This cake is a riot of hazelnuts, super delicious, we have a sponge that you can decide whether to make with or without gluten, filled with a hazelnut diplomatic cream, and then a light, frothy cream, which also covers the entire cake externally. We then have a hazelnut crumble that covers the entire cake, and finally we decorate it again using these preparations, therefore cream spikes, crumble in larger pieces, toasted hazelnuts and edible gold leaves.

Method

Start with the cream. In a bowl weigh sugar, corn starch. In a small bowl the lecithin, apart from the hazelnut paste and margarine and finally in a saucepan the milk.

Add the lecithin to the sugar and starch and mix with a whisk.

Pour the powders into the milk and mix with a whisk. If there are lumps, for example if the lecithin does not dissolve well, blend with an immersion blender.

Cook the custard on a low heat, or at a low power on the induction plate. 

During cooking, mix continuously with a whisk and bring to a temperature of around 85°, you will immediately notice a change in consistency and the custard will begin to thicken. 

Then remove the saucepan from the heat, transfer the cream into a jug, add the hazelnut paste and margarine and blend with an immersion blender, mix with a spatula from time to time so as to blend the mixture well on the edges and bottom of the carafe.

Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film so that it does not form any skin, and leave to rest in the fridge for at least two hours. 

Prepare the sponge.

Preheat the oven to 170°C, static.

Prepare a baking tray with baking paper. Take a ring (or classic mould) of 18cm in diameter, butter it with margarine so that the strips of baking paper adhere well to the edges.  

Cover the bottom of the ring with aluminum foil so as not to let the dough come out (this step is not necessary if you use a cake pan with a bottom).

Mix milk and oil with a whisk for a couple of minutes to create an emulsion between the liquid and the fat. 

Add the sugar and salt and mix. 

Sift flour (rice or 00 flour), starch and yeast and pour into the bowl.

Mix with the whisk until the mixture is smooth and without lumps.

Pour the mixture into the mold and level.

Cook at 170°c for approximately 35 minutes. Insert a long toothpick into the center of the cake, if it comes out dry it means that the mixture is cooked.  

Leave to cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour, then remove the ring and remove the baking paper (and any foil if you used a ring and not a cake tin). Cool completely in the refrigerator.

Then cut in half using a serrated knife to obtain 2 layers of the same thickness.

When the custard has cooled, weigh the vegetable cream into another bowl.

Then whip the cream using an electric whisk or a planetary mixer until stable and frothy.

Now combine the hazelnut custard with the whipped cream.

Lightly mix the custard with a spatula to soften it and little by little add the whipped vegetable cream, always mixing with a spatula and making movements from bottom to top so as not to deflate the cream.

At this point the diplomatic cream is ready, transfer it into a pastry bag and keep in the fridge for at least 1 hour before using it

Prepare the crumble. Preheat the oven to 170˚ static.

In a bowl, weigh the cold margarine from the fridge cut into cubes, the 00 or rice flour, salt, hazelnut flour and sugar.

Mix by hand, or in a planetary mixer with the paddle attachment, until you obtain a compact, united but sanded mixture. There is no need to form a dough.

Coarsely crumble 2/3 of the mixture on a baking tray with baking paper and with the remainder make larger pieces of crumble, like pebbles, and place them on another baking tray with baking paper.

Cook the crumbled crumble and the larger pieces for 15 minutes at 170 degrees. Allow to cool completely to room temperature before assembling the cake, at least half an hour.

Assembly.

Take the plate on which the cake will be served. Make a peak of cream and place the first layer of cake, wet the layer with a brush and approximately 30 g of vegetable milk.

Cover with approximately 250 g of cream, using the pastry bag with the tip cut off and creating an even spiral.

Place the second layer of cake and press lightly. Wet again with the vegetable milk.

Then make another layer with approximately 250 g of cream, always creating a spiral. 

Then using a spatula, cover the entire cake, using this cream also for the edges.

There will be some cream leftover for the final decoration. The coverage with the cream does not need to be perfect as it will be covered with the crumble.  

Then take the crumbled crumble and cover the entire cake, both the edges and the surface. 

Clean the plate from the crumble that has fallen.

Then decorate the surface of the cake with spikes of cream, some large pieces of crumble, some toasted hazelnuts and edible gold leaves. 

Place in the fridge at least an hour before cutting.