Hazelnut and Blackberry Cake
I made this cake for my Nannie’s 94th birthday! Her birthday is at the beginning of September. She is an absolutely incredible woman, glamorous and poised, beautifully dressed, witty and full of interesting stories and gossip. I hope that when I’m 94 I’m like her, still living in her own home, putting on blusher and perfume and cooking her meals from scratch every day! I feel like this is the perfect cake for her understated elegance
This cake was inspired by September - a month for hazelnuts and ripening blackberries and the final roses on the rosa rugosa bushes which are vibrantly pink and softly scented. I absolutely love this hazelnut sponge, so if you don’t make it in blackberry season then try it with raspberries and the mascarpone icing or even a simple orange glace icing on top.
Serves 12-16
Makes 3 x 20cm (8 inch cakes), for a 2 layer cake reduce the cake quantities by 1/3 (33%)
For the hazelnut sponge:
225g blanched hazelnuts
375g butter, softened
225g light brown sugar
150g caster sugar
6 large eggs, separated
150g self-raising flour
For the mascarpone icing & decoration:
150g mascarpone
75g icing sugar
1 lemon, zest only
1-2 teaspoons rosewater
400ml double cream
400g blackberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar
A handful of fresh or dried rose petals
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Butter and line three 20cm cake tins.
Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until they smell toasty and are just starting to turn golden. Set aside the nuts to cool.
Put the butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until soft. Add the light brown sugar and the caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy. This will take 3-5 minutes. Add two of the egg yolks and beat until combined. Add two more egg yolks and beat again and then add the final two egg yolks.
Put the cooled hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse until you have a rough flour. Don’t over process the hazelnuts as they will turn into hazelnut butter!
Add the ground hazelnuts and flour into the bowl of the stand mixer and fold into the cake mixture.
Put the egg whites into a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk to stiff peaks. Take ¼ of the egg whites and stir them into the cake batter, this will lighten the mixture and make folding easier. Fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter in two batches, folding gently but thoroughly. Try to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Divide the batter evenly between the three cake tins. Put in the oven and bake for 25 -30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool in their tins for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool.
To make the icing whisk the mascarpone until light and smooth. Add the icing sugar and whisk again. Then add the lemon zest and rose water (to taste) and whisk again. Finally pour in the double cream while whisking, once it thickens stop whisking. Be careful here, if you over whisk the icing it will go grainy.
Put half the blackberries in a bowl and crush with a fork. Stir in the two tablespoons caster sugar.
Put one of the cakes on a presentation plate or cake stand. Add 1/3 of the icing and spread it over the cake, add half the crushed blackberries on top of the icing. Put the second cake on top and repeat with another 1/3 of the icing and the remaining crushed blackberries. Put the final cake on top and top with the remaining icing. Pile the rest of the whole blackberries on top of the cake and sprinkle over the rose petals.
This cake is best eaten on the day it is iced but the sponges will keep well for two days tightly wrapped or in an airtight container.
If you don’t have a stand mixer you can make this is a large mixing bowl with electric beaters or with a wooden spoon and lots of elbow grease!