Gianduja Cake
I haven’t posted a cake recipe in a long time (or so it feels)! Right now, as I’m writing this, I’m looking at Instagram and see that I first tested (and posted) this cake on November 3, 2023… now that’s what I call teasing!
Aaaaaanyway, I wanted a cake with gianduja cream because I noticed people think it’s hard to make (it’s not), but I wasn’t sure what flavor to pair with it (chocolate + hazelnut). The idea of coffee cream came to me, partly because I wanted a flavor that would complement the cake well and also to create a color contrast between the creams. I think I nailed it, but I’m curious to hear what you all think.
PS: I wrote so much here!
For a 2.5 kg cake
For the coffee cream:
200 g Milk
25 g Coffee (espresso)
Heat the milk and coffee together while you prepare the other ingredients.
6 Egg Yolks
100 g Sugar
20 g Cornstarch
1 bc Vanilla Extract
Whisk the ingredients, then pour the milk (with coffee) over them, stirring. Pour everything back into the pot, cooking over medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the cream boils, thickens, and becomes glossy. Pour it into a bowl, cover with cling wrap (in contact with the cream), and cool.
200 g Butter
You'll need this later, but I added it here so you don’t forget. We’ll whip the softened butter (the softer, the better), then add the cooled coffee cream over it and whip again for 15-20 seconds to make a very fluffy cream. But we do this step only when assembling the cake.
For the gianduja cream:
200 g Milk
Heat it up.
6 Egg Yolks
1 drop Vanilla Extract
60 g Sugar
Whisk together, then pour the hot milk over. Return the mixture to the pot (it looks similar to the previous cream, but different, trust me!) and cook, stirring continuously, until it reaches 81°C (yes, you’ll need a thermometer in the cream constantly). When it hits exactly 81°C, pour it super quickly over the ingredients below (otherwise, the eggs will cook, and you’ll end up with scrambled eggs instead of cream).
100 g Milk Chocolate
100 g Dark Chocolate (55%)
180 g Hazelnut Paste
Place these ingredients in a bowl, pour the hot cream over them, let it melt slightly, then blend until smooth (preferably with an immersion blender). Cover with cling wrap in contact with the cream, and refrigerate.
For the sponge(s):
It helps to have 2 mixers or one stand mixer and one hand mixer. If not, whip the egg whites first, then the yolks.
8 Egg Yolks
40 g Sugar
Place in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until the whites are ready (about 5 minutes).
8 Egg Whites
100 g Sugar
Place the egg whites in the stand mixer bowl and mix on medium speed until they start to aerate, then slowly add the sugar. Basically, you’re making a French meringue.
Once both mixtures are ready, gently fold the whites into the yolks to retain as much air as possible.
80 g Flour
30 g Cocoa
Mix in a bowl and fold into the egg mixture (again, using gentle movements).
80 g Oil
60 g Milk
Place in a bowl, then take a small amount of the egg mixture and mix it with the oil and milk. Gently fold this mixture back into the main batter until smooth.
Divide this batter between two 32x32 cm cake pans (i use silicon ones) and bake at 180°C with fan, for 9 minutes.
To assemble, spread half of the gianduja cream (gently whipped) over each sponge. Sprinkle with cocoa nibs or chopped roasted hazelnuts (or leave plain), then spread half of the coffee cream (here is where we use the whipped butter).
If you want a small diameter, tall cake (as I did), cut each sponge into 2 strips and roll the 4 parts one after another, as if creating a long strip of sponge.
For a larger diameter, shorter cake, cut each sponge into 3 and roll as described above.
In either case, place the cake in a form or cake ring and chill for at least 6 hours, then decorate. Here I used (of course) chocolate mascarpone cream, but you can use other creams and make even more beautiful decorations! I’d love to see them, so feel free to tag me on Instagram!
