Birthdays are always a challenge. While my hubby & I don’t mind our gf lifestyle, I always feel I need to make extra-good desserts when I’m cooking or baking for others. Last year I posted the link for one of our all-time favorite gf desserts – TheBakingBeauties Lemon Layer Cake. So this year I chose to make one that a friend made recently.
When I saw the cake at our friend’s place, I was sure she must have forgotten that my hubby was Celiac. But no, this Hazelnut Cake is not only gluten free, it is grain free as well!
She photocopied the recipe for me, originally called Hungarian Flourless Hazelnut Cake, but I can only guess at the origin. It looks almost exactly like the one at allrecipes.com, so I’ll post that link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hungarian-flourless-hazelnut-cake/
So on Thursday night I pulled it out – determined to tackle it. I had perused it enough the first time, to know that I needed to buy a bag of hazelnuts. I could not believe how easy this recipe was to make. Few ingredients, and simple. I like simple.
Here it is.
12 ounces hazelnuts – or 2 heaping cups before grinding
2 tsp baking powder
6 eggs, separated
5/8 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Whipped cream
Hazelnuts for garnish
Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 9” cake pans, or line with parchment paper.
Grind nuts very fine (I used my food processor); add baking powder.
Beat egg whites until stiff; adding the vanilla halfway through the process. Fold in half of the nut mixture
In another bowl, beat egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow. Fold in the other half of the nut mixture. Gently mix all together.
Pour into pans and bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool and put whipped cream between layers, and on top and sides of cake. Garnish as you wish.
*Instead of whipped cream between layers, I used coconut milk, whipped, following this pin from pinterest: http://nuttykitchen.com/2010/06/01/coconut-whipped-cream/. I didn’t add cinnamon, but probably could have. It would also have fit well with the Hazelnut Cake.
We celebrated 3 March birthdays with this cake!
glutenfreenow 
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