Black and White Holiday Hazelnut Cake

This is a fantastic black-and-white holiday hazelnut cake, a truly rich cake for the holidays.

By chance, I made a small change. The original recipe calls for 200g of white chocolate and 0.5 dl of milk for the first filling, but I suddenly ran out of white chocolate, so I added 0.5 liters of milk instead. I set aside the resulting white mixture for a cream or pudding, and since I luckily had some dark chocolate for baking, I used it to make the filling that was originally supposed to be white.

Here’s the recipe:

For the cake layers, you will need:

• 10 eggs
• 200g sugar
• 200g roasted and ground hazelnuts
• 60g dark chocolate for baking
• A piece of butter, breadcrumbs, and flour to grease the pan
• A little rum or rum extract to sprinkle on the layers

For the fillings, you will need:

First filling:

• 200g white chocolate
• 100g butter
• 2 vanilla sugars
• 0.5 dl milk

Second filling:

• 300g roasted and ground hazelnuts
• 1.5 dl milk
• 150g butter
• 150g powdered sugar

Third filling:

• 1 liter heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Preparation:

For the layers:
Whisk the 10 egg yolks with 200g of sugar until the cream lightens and bubbles form. Add 60g (3 bars) of melted dark chocolate and gently mix in 200g of roasted and ground hazelnuts. Finally, gently fold in the whipped egg whites from the remaining 10 egg whites. Pour the mixture into a 26 cm round cake pan greased with butter and dusted with breadcrumbs and flour. Bake at 170°C for about 15-20 minutes. Don’t remove the cake immediately from the oven; leave it in with the oven door slightly ajar for 10-15 minutes before removing it.

Once the cake layer has cooled completely, cut it into three layers by slicing it horizontally.

For the first filling:
In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients and cook on a double boiler, stirring constantly, until it thickens.

For the second filling:

1. In a smaller saucepan, combine the milk with the powdered sugar (I used granulated sugar) and bring to a boil.
2. Pour the boiling milk over the ground hazelnuts to steam them.
3. When the mixture cools down, add the butter and blend with a mixer.

For the third filling:

1. Whisk the heavy cream into stiff peaks and divide into two parts.
2. Add cocoa powder to one part and mix gently.

Assembling the cake:
Sprinkle all the layers with a little rum or rum extract.

1. Spread the first filling (white chocolate glaze) over two of the layers, then spread the second filling (hazelnut) on top, followed by a layer of the third filling (the one with cocoa).
2. Stack the layers, placing one on top of the other, and then cover with the third layer.
3. Spread the remaining hazelnut filling over the top of the cake and decorate with the remaining whipped cream (without cocoa).