Chocolate, Hazelnut and Espresso Olive Oil Cake
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
For the Cake
200g caster sugar
5 large eggs
120g plain flour
120g hazelnut meal
40g cocoa powder
50ml strong espresso
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
150ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp salt
For the Topping
50g caster sugar
100ml espresso
250g mascarpone
75g roasted hazelnuts, chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 20cm cake tin with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, egg, olive oil, espresso and vanilla. Gently fold in the flour, hazelnut meal, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until just combined and smooth.
Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the topping, dissolve the sugar and espresso over medium heat in a small pan. Simmer for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for 20 minutes to thicken slightly.
Once the cake has cooled, spread the mascarpone over the top. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and drizzle with the espresso syrup (you may not need all of it), then slice and serve.
