Hazelnut Sponge Cake

I use this hazelnut sponge cake for an afternoon tea of for the base of birthday cakes. I like the hazelnut addition which brings it a special flavour and is also slightly addictive.  The recipe is extracted from Gourmet Traveller.

When you are about to make a sponge cake, you must make sure you follow these rules:

• Eggs must be at room temperature, allow half an hour out of the fridge before using (or it won’t fluff up enough)
• Follow the order exactly (I did once, by mistake, put the butter with the eggs and sugar, I can tell you it will not end up like a sponge cake)
• Use a very wide bowl and either a large metal spoon, large spatula or a very large whisk that you use as a large spatula when folding in the butter and then the flour.  
• Use a tin 20 to 23 cm wide, no wider

If you want to make layers you can cut the cake in up to three layers or choose to bake several cakes of the same diameter.

Ingredients:

• 190 g of plain flour
• 50 g of hazelnut meal or hazelnuts
• 80 g of salted butter (you can use unsalted to)
• 8 eggs at room temperature
• 220 g of caster sugar

For the cream and berries filling and topping:

• 2 punnets of raspberries, 2 punnets of small strawberries, 2 punnets of blackberries and 1 punnet of blueberries
• 2 pots of 600 mL (or equivalent volume) of thickened cream
• 1/2 cup to a cup of icing sugar

Method:

1. Heat up the oven to 160°C.
2. Melt the butter and let to cool.
3. Line the bottom of your tin and butter and flour the sides.
4. If using whole hazelnuts, process them to fine meal and mix with the flour.  Sift the flour and hazelnut meal (I use a fine mesh sieve and a whisk).
5. For those with a food mixer, it is time to use it.  If not, make sure to use your wider whisk.  Place the eggs and sugar together and mix on full power until triple the size and foamy.  With a food mixer, it will take about 8 minutes.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the butter slowly and fold in then the flour in three batches.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes.  When press lightly the top should spring back and the sides would slightly have pulled away from the sides of the tin.
7. Turn over a wire rack, remove the tin and baking paper, cool completely before using.

Berry and cream filling & topping:

• Choose 1/2 cup of berries and add 1 teaspoon of icing sugar.  Process in a small food processor to have a coulis
• Cut the cake in three layers with a bread knife
• Whip 600 mL of cream adding 1/4 cup icing sugar towards the end (this will fill one layer and half of the next)
• Place the lower layer of cake on the serving dish, use slightly more than half of the whipped cream making sure to not go over the edges.  Place half of the coulis on top and using a fork, swirl it in the cream.
• Repeat with layer 2 (you will need to whip the second batch).  Place the upper layer of the cake and the remaining of the whipped cream keeping it natural (don’t be tempted to flatten or tidy up the look) .  Add berries on top randomly and generously.

Here are a few other birthday cakes made with the hazelnut sponge cake as a basis: