Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake – a brown sugar nutmeg cake with hazelnut praline buttercream and lovely swag buttercream piping. A brand new cake recipe by our contributor, Tessa Huff.
Christmas all the time brings emotions of nostalgia and child-like surprise. And as I revel within the reminiscences of my childhood across the holidays, it’s all the time visions of sugarplums, snowflakes, and waltzing flowers that dance out and in of my thoughts. Whether or not within the ensemble or only a spectator, The Nutcracker has all the time been part of my life this time of 12 months.
This cake pays tribute to my love for The Nutcracker. Whereas plums aren’t in season (the obvious taste for a Nutcracker-themed cake), roasted hazelnuts are greater than welcome this time of 12 months. Paired with heat brown sugar, cinnamon, and contemporary nutmeg (you see the place we’re going with this, proper?), this Hazelnut Nutcracker cake is delicately spiced and nutty in all the appropriate methods.
The candied hazelnut brittle is critically addictive by itself, however when floor down right into a praline powder, it provides tons of taste and texture to silky Swiss meringue buttercream. The remaining buttercream is tinted a sugared plum purple and piped onto the perimeters of a cake to imitate the ruffles of a tutu.
Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake
Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake – a brown sugar nutmeg cake with hazelnut praline buttercream and lovely swag buttercream piping.
- Yield: One 8″ Spherical Cake (3 layers)
- Class: Dessert
- Delicacies: Cake
For the Brown Sugar Nutmeg Cake:
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 4 giant eggs
- 1 giant egg yolk
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 1 ⅓ cup complete milk
For the Hazelnut Praline:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- pinch of cream of tartar
- ¾ cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
For the Hazelnut Buttercream:
- 1 cup praline powder
- 6 giant egg whites
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
Make the Brown Sugar Nutmeg Cake:
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans and put aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk collectively the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Put aside.
- Within the bowl of a stand mixer, place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Combine on medium till mild and fluffy, 2 to three minutes. Flip the mixer to medium-low and add the vanilla. Add within the eggs and egg yolk, one by one, and blend till integrated. Add the oil and blend till mixed (if the batter breaks, add about ½ cup of the flour combination and blend till clean).
- Cease the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add the flour combination in two batches, alternating with the milk – beginning and ending with the flour combination. Combine on medium for not more than 30 seconds, or till clean.
- Evenly divide the batter between the ready pans. Bake for twenty-four to 26 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the middle of the truffles comes out clear. Cool on a wire rack for 10 to twenty minutes earlier than eradicating the truffles from their pans. Permit truffles to fully cool earlier than filling and frosting.
Make the Hazelnut Praline:
- Place the sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a saucepan. Warmth over excessive and convey to a boil. Proceed to prepare dinner the sugar combination till it turns a medium amber colour (like making caramel sauce), and instantly take away from the warmth.
- Instantly stir within the hazelnuts, cinnamon, and salt. Rapidly and thoroughly (it will likely be very popular!) unfold the combination onto a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper. Permit to fully cool.
- As soon as cool, break the brittle into items in order that they slot in a meals processor. With a meals processor, grind the brittle right into a powder.
Make the Hazelnut Buttercream:
- Place the egg whites and sugar within the bowl of an electrical mixer. Gently whisk till mixed.
- Place mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double-boiler. Whisking consistently, warmth the egg combination till it registers 160°F on a sweet thermometer. Rigorously switch the bowl again to the stand mixer.
- Utilizing the whisk attachment, whip the egg combination on excessive for 8 to 10 minutes till stiff, shiny peaks and the surface of the blending bowl returns to room temperature.
- Swap to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, slowly add the butter (a pair tablespoons at a time) and blend till integrated.
- Add vanilla. Whip on medium till silky clean, about 3 to five minutes.
- Take away 2 ½ cups of buttercream to combine with the praline powder. Reserve the remaining buttercream to frost the cake.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake board or serving dish. Unfold on about 1 cup of the hazelnut praline buttercream with an offset spatula till clean. Prime the subsequent layer of cake and repeat. Place the ultimate layer of cake and prime and crumb coat the cake in a skinny layer of the remaining hazelnut praline buttercream. Chill the cake within the fridge for quarter-hour.
- Tint the remaining buttercream your colour of alternative (if desired). Place a big dollop of buttercream on the highest of the chilled cake. Unfold out the buttercream with an offset spatula till clean. For the perimeters of the cake, use an offset spatula to unfold a little bit of buttercream across the backside edges (about 1-inch from the underside).
- To embellish, rating the cake with the sting of an icing smoother or the facet of a spatula to make vertical traces each 2 to 3-inched across the cake. Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip (like Wilton 1B) with buttercream. Beginning on the backside of the cake, pipe giant swags across the cake. The tops of the swags ought to begin and finish on the vertical marks scored on the cake. Proceed up the perimeters of the cake, piping the swages round, till the cake is roofed.
- Prime with Nutcracker paper toppers, if desired.
- Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Key phrases: hazelnut, praline, cake
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