Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Recipe: Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownie Cake (Delia Smith)

One of the first things I tried from Delia's cookbook is her American brownies recipe. We love these very much, and I have made it countless times and it always turns out well. I was browsing her website when I had to make a birthday cake for my dad recently and came across the Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownie Cake recipe (it seems like she has taken this off her website recently as it can no longer be found there). After studying the recipe, I realised this was her American brownie recipe frosted with whipping cream and decorated with toasted hazelnuts and cocoa powder. Even before I made it, I knew this was going to be a winner.


Rich, chocolatey, moist with whipped cream and crunchy toasted hazelnuts = SINFUL!


As always, the brownie was easy to make. After it has been cooled, the brownie is cut down the centre lengthways to make a double-layered cake before being frosted with whipped cream. Usually, we would only eat 2-3 small pieces before it gets cloying, but with the whipped cream, I feel that it tones down some of the sweetness and before we knew it, the whole brownie cake was down to the last piece! (Birthday boy doesn't like cakes which are too sweet, so this was absolutely perfect!) No point getting out a tupperware to store the last piece, so we happily shared the last piece amongst us ;)









Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownie Cake
Recipe adapted from Delia Smith 
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
110g butter
50g dark chocolate
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
200g caster sugar
50g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
70g walnuts

To decorate
50g lightly toasted hazelnuts
Cocoa powder, to dust
275ml whipping cream


1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Line a baking tin measuring 6 x 10 inches (15 x 25.5cm) with greaseproof paper. Bring the paper up to at least 1 inch above the edge of the tin. (Note: I used a 5 x 9 inch tin, baking time 40 minutes)

3. Place the butter and the chocolate (broken up into small pieces) into a large, heatproof bowl fitted over a saucepan of barely simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water.

4. Then beat the mixture till smooth, remove it from the heat and simply stir in all the other ingredients till thoroughly blended.

5. Now spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf for 30 minutes.

6. Leave the cake in the tin for 15 minutes to cool, then remove it from the tin, and turn it out on to a cooling tray. Strip off the lining paper and, when it's absolutely cold, carefully cut the cake in half, down the centre lengthways, so you're left with 2 oblongs. 

7. Now whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and spread half of it thickly along one half. Position the other half on top, then spread the rest of the cream all over the cake, covering it completely. Then decorate with the roughly chopped nuts and, if you like, a dusting of cocoa powder. If all the cake isn't eaten, to keep it fresh, store inside an airtight container in the fridge.










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I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Delia Smith" bloghop which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Delia Smith websites or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of March 2013.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in March 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

You can get the HTML code here: get the InLinkz code (Click on the link, copy and paste the HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML mode when you paste in the code)

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 7 April 2013.

45 comments:

  1. Absolutely delightful for a birthday!

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  2. Sinfully delicious ! I love Baby D's utter concentration , that good huh lol

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    Replies
    1. Haha, daddy always says "you snooze you lose!"

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  3. Whenever I see this combination of chocolate and hazelnut, I'm pretty much sold! Lol! Love it! In fact I haven't bake brownies for eons! This recipe looks very promising indeed... Thanks for sharing this lucious rich cake!

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    1. You're welcome. Hopefully u will love Delia's brownies as much as my family does.

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  4. Hi Yen! I love the generous portion of nuts on the cake!

    Your 2 kids are so adorable!

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    Replies
    1. Hehe thanks! Sometimes I have to add extra nuts when my mum requests.

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  5. Loving it... would love to have a slice

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  6. I always check out this website for healthy and tasty recipe's - www.excellentprotein.com - My favourite is the sugar free chocolate pudding because it just tastes amazing

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  7. You are right, it does look sinfully good!

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    Replies
    1. Eat first, worry about losing weight later! :D

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  8. Not a fan of nuts, and not in cakes. Would love the cake without them...

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    Replies
    1. When I make brownies for my husband, I omit the nuts. Still very good. But we prefer it with nuts.

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  9. Ooooo.....a nutty chocolate cake and I like it. Chocolate, nuts, cream...... just the right cake for me. Very yummy. Your kids are sooooooo adorable.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mel. My kids will "kembang" in their sleep tonight.

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  10. I want to lose weight and try to cut down my dessert intake. But this looks so yummy... :P

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    Replies
    1. Recently I also trying to lose weight, eat more salad. Haha! But sometimes must still treat yourself ma, right?

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  11. It look so moist!

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  12. Hi Yen,

    Baby D is looking so serious eating his slice of cake. I bet that this brownies must be so good that he is careful, making sure that he will spoon them all :D

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. He is concentrating hard so tht he can finish it fast and have another slice.

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  13. Looks so moist and I love the cream all over it and the nuts topping!

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    Replies
    1. The whipped cream takes the brownie to do the next level!

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  14. Yen, I agree that the cake is so sinful! I must bake this cake too :)

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  15. I came here wrong time! :D I'm about to go to sleep and look at this cake... I'd even wish to eat this for breakfast when I wake up. I bet kids were so happy eating this!

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    Replies
    1. Haha yea my kids love brownies very much. I dont make it too often cos sugar content is quite high but it's a treat when they've been good :)

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  16. omigosh, i think i'd love this one! maybe can add a bit of kahlua in it too, heheh :D

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  17. looks really heavenly! she does have really awesome recipes.... :)

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    Replies
    1. YES! I love her recipes..... the copy of cookbook tht I have already "koyak" here and there, cos I use it so often.

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  18. Oh my! This is seriously sinfully YUMMY! I wanna make some now! Looks so good that Baby D was fully concentrating on his plate of goodness! :D

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    Replies
    1. Let's hope he concentrates this hard with his books next time. :P

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  19. Cake looks delish, hard to stay away from it however sinful it maybe :) Oh, and happy birthday to your dad, may he be blessed with good health, happiness and all!

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  20. Yen, this may look sinful but I believe that they taste so good, hahaha!

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    1. Jessie, if sinful and dont taste good then cham lor. Put on weight also not worth it. Haha!!!

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  21. Hi Yen,
    I believe the birthday boy must be very delighted with the super delish birthday.
    Oh! I love the generous amounts of cream and hazelnuts added.
    mui

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    Replies
    1. My family loves cakes with lots and lots of cream. The more, the better!

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  22. wow.. the brownie looks absolutely fantastic.. so rich and moist.. and not to sweet too! I just wanna sink my teeth into them! Wah.. each time u bake something, your family will wallop them all? non goes to waste? THAT'S REALLY NICE TO HAVE A SUPPORTIVE FAMILY!! cause normally if I bake, Im the only one eating..huhu..;( sad case huh?

    By the way, I wanna pinch Chloe!!!! SHE LOOK MEGA SWEET in this pic! ;p

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    1. Aiyo how come they won't eat???? My family will always eat everything I cook/bake. Next time u bake, pass some over to us lah... we become your adopted family :P

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  23. Oh my , this looks delicious. I simply love the cake and the babies.. Can I have a little bit of everything... LOL . Thank you for sharing .

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  24. Happy birthday to the angel and your children sure did enjoy and relish that awesome brownie!!(Who would'nt??):):)

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