Hazelnut Olive Oil Cake ヘーゼルナッツ、オリーブオイルケーキ

The other day, while we were grocery shopping at Whole Foods, my wife came back with “Hazelnut meal” and “Coconut flour”. She was obviously very curious about these fancy flours; specifically, what were they used for and what did they taste like? It appears that these nuts meal/flours are mostly used for gluten free (GF) cakes and cookies. In any case, she looked for recipes using that used hazelnut meal and found  this hazelnut olive oil cake recipe. This is a very moist cake with a distinctive hazelnut flavor and also slight olive oil flavor. We really like it and the flavors got better with time.

The cross section shows very moist and succulent interior.

This gluten-free and daily-free (GF, DF) recipe came from an on-line site called the recipetineats. I will ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients
150g / 5oz hazelnut meal (1 3/4 cups firmly packed) (almond meal can be substituted)
1/2 tsp baking soda sifted
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated (about 2 teaspoons or so)
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (medium quality is OK)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs , at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 340°F. Grease a 20 cm/8" springform pan with olive oil then line with baking paper (parchment paper), then grease the paper. In a medium bowl, mix the hazelnut meal, baking soda, lemon and salt. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes on speed 7 or 8 until it becomes pale and thick (like pouring cream or runny mayonnaise). Add vanilla and beat on speed one for 10 seconds. Add the Dry ingredients and mix in gently using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. It will puff up dramatically in the oven but it collapses as it cools. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to fully cool in the pan before releasing from the springform pan. This is a rustic cake that has higher edges and a flatter centre.

This cake is very moist and has a lovely slightly sweet nutty hazelnut flavor with a background flavor of olive oil. The olive oil adds to rather than overwhelms the overall experience. Interestingly, although this cake was very good right out of the pan it got better and better with time. The flavors melded together and got richer. This went very well with a morning cappuccino.