This Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cake is insanely flavorful, rich, super moist, not overly sweet with crunchy hazelnut bites and a hint of espresso!
Chances are you jumped to this page because your eyes caught sight of this beautiful cake somewhere around the web. Immediately all your senses were engaged with the visual and by now they are sending signals to your brain commending action. By that I mean, do whatever it takes to have this chocolate cake sitting beautifully on your kitchen table, waiting to be devoured!
Am I right?
You’ve come to the right place!
For starters I am going to drop the boring food science language and switch to the logistics. Time + Taste!
I am not much of a cake baker myself, as I try to stick with muffins and breads for the most part. I do however admire cake bakers, especially those with super crafty decorating skill, like the ones you see on food videos. Girl, I can watch those for hours!
But hey, don’t worry if you that’s not you either. Luckily this cake is super easy to make. It’s almost as easy as spreading butter on bread, haha 🙂
Timewise, we are talking about a full cake, frosting and all, topping of choice (recommendations for topping in recipe card) right in front of you in less than an hour! Now that’s manageable stuff right?!
Totally!
Because pictures are worth a thousand words, I decided to break my own 3-5 photos guideline and overwhelm your screen with this delicious chocolate cake, after all if I am are going to break the rules, might as well be with chocolate!
In all honesty, I think this chocolate cake is easily one of the BEST cake I ever had. No joke! Here is why;
- Made with whole hazelnuts, processed down to almost a flour consistency but yet enough bits and pieces to get that crunchy nutty bite. You can use a food processor for this step but if you don’t have one simply place the nuts in a zipper bag and beat the crap out, until finely crushed. A mortar and pestle work really well too!
- Espresso! Duh!! Have you ever had the magical combination of chocolate and espresso? If you haven’t, I urge you to not wait another day. It’s life changing!
- Super quick to whip up and doesn’t require baking skills. Follow the recipe directions and you should be good to go!
- Rick, moist and incredibly flavorful! Every bite takes you on a trip to dreamland. The frosting hardens after a few hours to almost an icing consistency. I mean, it’s unbelievable!
- Not overly sweet! In fact I’ve been using Steviva Fructevia which is an amazing low carb and low glycemic sweetener, in all my baking! It works just like sugar and it’s perfect for all type of baking needs.
To learn more about Steviva Natural Sweeteners, and how this low-carb, low glycemic and diabetic-safe sweetener can help you stay healthy visit them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest!
Now enjoy a slice of the BEST Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cake ever made, until you get to the recipe down below. Should you have any questions about this recipe, remember I am one click away!
Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup finely crushed hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup Steviva Fructevia Natural Sweetener
- 1 shot espresso or 1/4 cup dark coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375F degrees. Spray a 8 inches round cake pan with cooking spray. Set aside
- In a large bowl whisk the first six ingredients (dry ingredients) to combine.
- In a second bowl add in the remaining cake ingredients and whisk until mixture is uniform. Pour liquids into the dry bowl and fold until batter is creamy. The batter will look slightly bumpy from the hazelnut bits.
- Pour batter in to the cake pan and bake for 23-25 mins on the top rack (assuming the heat is coming from below). Insert a toothpick in the center to make sure it is cooked through.
- Remove cake from oven and place it on a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile melt chocolate chips in the microwave or use a glass bowl over the double boiler, stirring until chocolate chips are completely melted. Add in cream and whisk until chocolate absorbs the cream, forming into a thick rich and spreadable frosting.
- Spread frosting on and/or around the cake, if you like. Add on chocolate sprinkles, fresh berries or toasted granola
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Awesome cake!! Made it for my husband’s birthday and he truly loved it.
The only thing I changed was to bake it for 40 min instead of 25 as mine was a little greasy from inside. I had decorated it with crushed hazelnuts and hazelnut wafers (dint find any place to add a pic of the cake).
Thank you so much for the recipe.
Ohhh that’s so lovely!! You can send a picture to silvia@gardeninthekitchen.com or tag me on social media. Thanks so much Shweta for your feedback, I am so happy that you chose my chocolate espresso cake for your husband’s bday. Happy birthday!