Stephanies Hazelnut Sponge with Coffee Cream

Last year I held a cake stall in my backyard to raise some money for the famine appeal in East Africa. With the help of wonderful friends and family, we raised almost $600 for Oxfam and the World Food Program.

Fundraising aside, the best thing about the day for me was discovering peoples favourite cake recipes. My friend Nadas mum, Stephanie, brought this beautiful hazelnut sponge and it was a big hit.

Stephanie is a Croatian Australian and hands down the best cook I know. I love everything about her attitude to food and cooking. She makes simple but stunning food with the freshest and best ingredients possible, and nothing is ever wasted. She grows her own vegetables, fruit and herbs, and a visit to her garden is inspirational. Its almost unbelievable how much produce her small garden in inner city Melbourne provides.

Stephanie kindly shared this recipe with me and now Im sharing it with you. Its such a beautiful cake delicate and nutty. It is perfect with afternoon coffee or tea, or after dinner with a liqueur. Ive only really made one change, and that is to reduce the amount of sugar, as its my standard operating procedure to do so. The coffee cream is my touch. If you prefer, as Stephanie suggests, chocolate cream, then substitute the coffee for a teaspoon of cocoa powder.

• 4 eggs, separated
• pinch of cream of tartar (about 1/4 teaspoon)
• 1/3 cup caster sugar (or 1/2 cup if you want it sweeter)
• 2/3 cup ground hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup self raising flour (or plain flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• 25 g, or two level tablespoons, butter melted in 2 tablespoons boiling water.
• 150 ml pure cream
• 1 level tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee

Preheat oven to 180c.

Grease a 20cm square cake tin or high sided tray (you can use a larger one if thats all you have, as I did, but the sponge will be thinner).

Assemble all your ingredients so you have everything at hand once you get cracking.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar with electric beaters until peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and beat until thick and glossy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Sift over the flour, add the hazelnuts and fold in carefully with a metal spoon. Add the melted butter and water and mix gently. Pour into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool a little then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Beat the cream, coffee and sugar in an electric mixer until thick and spreadable. If the coffee granules havent dissolved, let it sit for five minutes then stir through.

Carefully slice the sponge in half horizontally. Spread the cream over the bottom half, put the top half on and dust with icing sugar. Cut into squares.

---

BBC - Food - Recipes : Coffee and walnut cake This classic coffee and walnut cake is topped with an easy espresso-infused butter cream icing. Flavored Coffee - Pumpkin Spice, Hazelnut Cream, and French ... Hazelnut Cream Artificially Flavored Coffee ... aroma of this blend of mild Arabica coffees with rich hazelnut cream ... Bulla Cream > Coffee Hazelnut Sponge Torte Coffee Hazelnut Sponge Torte ... George and Travis share some delicious ways to use Bulla sour cream with a ... Dufflet - Fresh Collection - Signature Cakes & Tortes Crunchy hazelnut meringue layered with rich coffee buttercream, coffee whipped cream and bittersweet ... alternating with classic sponge cake; finished with whipped cream ... Montclair Baking Fine Cakes, Bread & Pastries Berkeley Oakland ... lightly soaked with cinnamon, Kahlua and espresso filled with coffee pastry cream ... Alternate layers of cocoa chiffon cake, hazelnut sponge cake, hazelnut dacquouise ... Hazelnut Sponge Cake Cookies and Candids ... and top layers were hazelnut and the middle was a vanilla sponge cake. The hazelnut ... Hazelnut (4) Ice Cream (14) Lavender (2) Lemon (16) Mint (3) Muffins (16) Pastry (1) special edition: dessert with david lebovitz + giveaway Design ... my favorite dessert at the moment is a homemade hazelnut macaroon coffee ice cream sandwich ... While Ive been reading Design*Sponge for years, I just discovered ... Hazelnut Layer Cake with Espresso Buttercream, Chocolate ... ... steps until you have used all 6 layers of hazelnut sponge cake ... 1 cup strong coffee. Combine all of the ingredients and ... Ice Cream Cake Recipes(45) Boston Cream Pie Recipes(7) Triple Hazelnut Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe ... 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature; Hazelnut Filling: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature; 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1 cup granulated sugar Mocha-Hazelnut Cream-Filled Cake Recipe from Pillsbury.com bottle (16 oz) refrigerated hazelnut-flavor coffee creamer 1 package (8 oz ...