Hazelnut Torte
THE FARMHOUSE
My dad makes hazelnut torte for my mom every year on her birthday, which just so happens to be today (happy birthday mom!). It’s been a family favorite for as long as I can remember so I thought I’d share the recipe today. This torte is a flourless cake, filled with toasted hazelnuts, a dozen eggs, and lots of orange. It’s unlike any cake I’ve ever had - nutty and hearty but surprisingly light. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
pickle pot, tea towel, vintage china, + more kitchen sources here
My parents first tried hazelnut torte at Rose’s bakery in Portland long before us kids were around to keep them from lingering at a bistro table to savor every last bite. They bought Grandma Roses’s cookbook (I’m still not sure if the bakery and cookbook are related) and when our family moved to rural Washington, my dad started making hazelnut torte at home. It’s been a family staple ever since!
Over the years there have been tweaks and substitutions but this recipe is just as good as the torte my parents had at Rose’s all those years ago. This torte would be perfect to make for a birthday, share with a loved one on Valentines Day, or just make for yourself on a Thursday ;)
pickle pot, tea towel, vintage china, + more kitchen sources here
My kids love this cake as much as I do! I actually made 4 versions of it (no one minded 😉) while trying to nail down the frosting for this recipe post. And in the end, my family was split right down the middle on which frosting was best. So I’m sharing it two different ways today. The first is a dark chocolate coating for a more-foodie/not-very-sweet/could-eat-it-for-breakfast kind of cake. And the second is a decadent chocolate buttercream for a sweet-as-lifelong-love and no-questions-asked-this-is-dessert kind of cake.
Note, I halved this recipe to make the thick 2-layer 6” cake shown in the photographs.
Hazelnut Torte
makes a 3-layer 9” cake (or half the recipe for a 6” cake as shown)
Ingredients
for the cake:
12 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp orange liqueur (like triple sec)
2 cups granulated sugar, seperated
4 cups toasted hazlenuts
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp baking powder
Grated rind of 1 large orange
Frosting option 1 - chocolate coating (for a darker, less-sweet frosting)
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup cream
Frosting option 2: buttercream frosting (for a more-decadent, sweeter option)
one recipe of the chocolate coating (above)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup powder sugar
for assembly (optional):
orange marmalade
toasted hazlenuts
steps
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease cake pans and line with parchment paper.
Grind hazelnuts into a meal in a food processor, excluding a few whole hazelnuts for decoration.
Separate egg whites and yolks into two medium bowls. Beat egg whites with salt until peaks form. Gradually add in 1 cup of sugar, a couple teaspoons at a time, continuing to beat until thick. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix ground hazelnuts, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and orange rind. Set aside.
Beat yolks until thick. Add liquor and 1 cup of sugar. Continue beating. Add in the nut mixture and mix until combined. Fold in half of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture using a spatula. Fold in the rest of the whites until thoroughly mixed and there are no traces of white.
Pour batter into pans. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched in the center (for a 6” cake, cut bake time in half and watch carefully). Remove from oven. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove them and let dry on a drying rack. My cakes usually fall a bit as they cool, but it’s nothing a little frosting won’t hide ;)
To make the chocolate coating: break up bittersweet chocolate and put pieces in a small bowl with cream. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir. Repeat until chocolate can be mixed smooth. If you want to frost the cake with this, skip the next step. If not, let the chocolate coating cool (but not harden at all).
To make the chocolate buttercream: in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and powder sugar together. Add 1/4 cup of the chocolate coating and mix until combined. Add up to 1/4 cup more of chocolate mixture, 1 tbsp at a time until desired consistency is reached. Keep the rest of the chocolate coating for assembly.
To assemble the cake: I like to add a layer of chocolate coating and marmalade between each of the layers. And then frost the outside of the cake with the rest of the chocolate coating or the buttercream, whatever you’re using.
Decorate with cake with toasted hazelnuts and dried orange slices (I also used some fresh thyme from the garden too). I like to serve cake with with vanilla ice cream.
Store cake in fridge for up to 5 days with plastic wrap protecting the cut edges.
Enjoy!
