Gluten Free Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Brownie Cake

Take no notice of the unassuming cracked exterior of this cake. Inside there lies the most rich and beautiful tasting nutty brownie cake. Moist and soft in the middle with nuggets of chocolate and crunchy slivers of hazel, this is definitely my cake crush of the week. If you're not gluten intolerant then you can use plain flour instead of the gluten free mix. Next time I'm planning on adding an extra egg to make a bigger cake for even more eating potential....

Recipe
Adapted from the brilliant recipe at the BBC Good Food website. See their original recipe here
Serves 8

175g unsalted butter, room temperature
225g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
65g gluten free plain flour (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
200g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
50g hazelnuts

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan ovens), and grease and line a 20cm cake tin.


2. When the oven is up to temperature, place the hazels on an oven tray and bake for approx 4 minutes to roast them. Take out of the oven and leave to cool, before removing their skins and cutting the nuts into small pieces.


3. Heat the butter, sugar and 175g of the chocolate in a bain mairie, a heat proof bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Stir gently until the ingredients have melted together. Take off the heat and leave to cool in the bowl.


4. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate mixture, beating well until combined. Then, using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour, chocolate chunks and roasted chopped hazels


5. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until fluffy, before very gently and briefly folding them into the rest of the ingredients.


6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, and bake in the oven for approx 40 minutes, until the top has cracked and bounces back under your finger.


7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 mins, before placing on a wire rack or plate. Once cool, dust liberally with icing sugar and serve with double cream.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus