Hazelnut meringue cake

Hazelnuts nearly always have to share the lime light with other flavours, but this dish celebrates their wonderful flavour all on it's own. Well, not entirely alone...there's an awful lot of sugar involved as well.

The caramelized hazelnuts are fun, if somewhat messy, to make. I made them previously as part of my insane chocolate afternoon tea, but I wasn't happy with the hazelnut-chocolate cake they were sitting on so I didn't write up the recipe. Make sure your floor is well covered with some paper before starting as they little strands of caramel stick to absolutely everything.

 

If you don't want to make the whole thing, you should at least try the hazelnut praline paste. This recipe will make a whole jam jar full and I can thoroughly recommend eating it with a spoon, straight from the jar. If any of it survives the first few days after making, it's also great as a macaron filling and an essential ingredient in the classic French pastry: Paris-Brest.
 

 
Things I have learnt from making this meringue cake:

Hazelnut skins taste bitter and should be removed before cooking with them. If you can find skinless hazelnuts it will make life much easier, but there are directions below for a fairly straightforward way to get rid of them.

Toasted hazelnuts are a million miles better than normal hazelnuts, so don't be tempted to skip this step and make sure they are well toasted to get the best flavour.

The texture of the praline paste is slightly gritty, which I quite like, but it may be possible to get it smoother if you have a better food processor than mine,which is a cheap Kenwood one with blunt blades from all the praline making.

You could replace the crème pâtissière with 600ml of lightly whipped cream and just stir the praline paste into that if you want to cut down on the pfaffing.

The meringue layers will crack in the oven as it's baked at quite a high temperature, but this only adds to it's charm and character!

Hazelnut Meringue Cake: makes one 8inch (22cm) cake

(adapted from this recipe on the Woman and Home website. Hazelnut praline recipe from this website)

For the hazelnut praline paste:

300g hazelnuts

200g caster sugar

1 tablespoon of flavourless oil such as rapeseed (canola)

½ teaspoon salt

• Place all the hazelnuts for the praline paste and the meringue layers (400g total) on a bake tray and bake at 180°C until the skins have darkened and they smell nice and toasty
• Wrap in a tea towel and leave for 10 minutes, this will help steam off the skins
• Rub the hazelnuts together in the tea towel until most of the skins have come off
• Put 100g of the hazelnuts aside side for the meringue and continue making the praline paste
• Cover a worksurface with a square of baking parchment
• Heat the sugar over a medium heat, without stirring, until it turns a deep golden brown
• Add the hazelnuts to the pan and quickly stir to coat the hazelnuts before tipping out onto the square of parchment, spreading it out as much as possible
• Leave the praline to cool before breaking into smallish clumps
• Place the broken up praline in the food processor and whizz up until it forms a smooth paste
• Add the salt and oil then whiz up again until thoroughly combined – the texture should be somewhere between a smooth and a crunchy peanut butter
• Scrape the praline paste into a clean jam jar to store

For the hazelnut meringue layers:

4 egg whites

180g caster sugar

100g hazelnuts, toasted

• Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two 8inch (22cm) sandwich tins with foil, grease with butter or oil
• Whisk the egg whites in a clean dry mixing bowl
• Beat on the lowest speed until they start to hold their shape
• Begin adding a little of the sugar, one teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition
• Once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed and beat to form a stiff glossy meringue
• Pulse the toasted hazelnuts in the food processor until coarsely ground then fold into the meringue
• Scrape the meringue into the sandwich tins and bake for 40 minutes
• Leave to cool in the oven with the door closed

For the crème pâtissière:

1 egg yolk

1 whole egg

30g sugar

2 teaspoons of plain flour

200ml milk

50g praline paste

• Whisk together the egg yolk, whole egg, sugar and flour in a mixing bowl
• Heat the milk until it is almost beginning to simmer
• Slowly pour over the egg mixture, whisking constantly to avoid scrambled eggs
• Tip back into the pan and continue to heat, stirring, until thickened
• Pour into a bowl, allow to cool, then stir in the praline paste and chill until needed

For the caramelized hazelnuts:

10-20 whole hazelnuts

75g caster sugar

• Press each hazelnut onto the pointy end of a barbecue skewer
• Lay a large piece of greaseproof paper or newspaper on the floor underneath the worksurface you are going to rest the hazelnut skewers on
• Heat the sugar over a medium heat, without stirring, until it turns a deep golden brown
• Dip each hazelnut into the caramel and carefully line them up on the edge of the worksurface
• Once cooled, snip off any trails of caramel with scissors, and gently pull the hazelnuts off the skewers

To assemble the cake:

200ml double cream, lightly whipped and sweetened to taste

• Spread half the crème pâtissière over each of the meringue layers and stack one on top of the other
• Dollop the whipped cream over the centre then arrange the caramelized hazelnuts in the middle

This needs to be eaten the day it's made as the meringue will become soggy and the caramel on the hazelnuts will dissolve if left overnight.