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Can you believe Thanksgiving is this week?? This year has just flown by!
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s a day spent with family and friends over good food, just enjoying each other’s company.
We spend Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house. Every year, I bring a little something up to contribute to the meal. For the past few years, I’ve done desserts. My sister put in a request for a chocolate cake this year because in her words, “there’s not enough chocolate at Thanksgiving.”
We usually have quite a few desserts for the taking, so I decided to make this Chocolate Hazelnut cake with less added sugar with the help of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend.
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend works just like regular brown sugar, but with half the calories. I picked up a bag at Walmart (it can be found in the baking aisle with the other sweeteners, or on Walmart.com).
I love the flavors of Hazelnut and Chocolate together, so I tested out a recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake with chocolate frosting this past weekend.
The cake uses ground hazelnut in the batter to add a nutty, buttery flavor as well as a really nice texture to the cake.
Ingredients:
Hazelnut Cake:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup ground hazelnut (hazelnut meal)
- 1 cup SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon hazelnut extract
- 1 cup brewed coffee, at room temperature
Chocolate Frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract
- 5 tablespoons milk
To make your Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8-inch rounds with a round of parchment paper at the bottom, butter, and dust with flour.
Combine the flour, ground hazelnuts, SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and hazelnut extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Add the brewed coffee and mix to combine.
Split the mixture evenly between the two cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to separate the cake from the pan and turn the cakes out onto a rack to completely cool.
While waiting for the cake to cool, make your frosting. Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the butter and mix to combine. Add in the hazelnut extract and milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
To frost the cake, add one of the cakes to a plate, flat side up.
Add a thin layer of frosting to the top of the cake and frost evenly with an offset icing spatula.
Place the second cake on top, rounded side up.
Frost the cake with the remaining frosting.
The cake is so moist and fluffy! The chocolatey flavor is definitely enhanced by the hazelnuts.
And that frosting! Mmm. It’s silky smooth and the perfect balance of hazelnut flavor and chocolate.
I think this will be a hit at Thanksgiving! My fiance doesn’t seem too upset that we have an extra one of these lying around to taste test before the holiday either. 🙂
I really enjoyed this Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with a sprinkle of finely chopped hazelnuts on top!
Looking for some more baking inspiration? SPLENDA® can be used in place of traditional sugar in tons of recipes.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
Ingredients
Hazelnut Cake:
- cooking spray or butter to grease the pans
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup ground hazelnut hazelnut meal
- 1 cup SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon hazelnut extract
- 1 cup brewed coffee at room temperature
Chocolate Frosting:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract
- 5 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8-inch rounds with a round of parchment paper at the bottom, butter, and dust with cocoa.cooking spray or butter to grease the pans
- Combine the flour, ground hazelnuts, SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup ground hazelnut, 1 cup SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, 3/4 cups cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and hazelnut extract.1 cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon hazelnut extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Add the brewed coffee and mix to combine.1 cup brewed coffee
- Add half of the mixture to each cake round.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 30 minutes. Use a knife to separate the cake from the pan and turn the cakes out onto a rack to completely cool.
- While waiting for the cake to cool, make your frosting. Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the butter and mix to combine. Add in the hazelnut extract and milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.3 cups powdered sugar, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 3/4 cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract, 5 tablespoons milk
- To frost the cake, add one of the cakes to a plate, flat side up.
- Add a thin layer of frosting to the top of the cake and frost evenly with an offset icing spatula.
- Place the second cake on top, rounded side up. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting.
This cake looks amazing! No doubt very yummy too!
Medeja recently posted..Šokoladinis Pyragas su Grietine/ Sour Cream Truffle Cake
Wow…I thought I would make the cake until I saw it takes a cup of brewed coffee!..shesh…I don’t even drink coffee
Hi Debbie,
You can use water instead of brewed coffee. The coffee just helps enhance the flavor of the chocolate. I hope this helps!
Kaitlin
Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That recently posted..Dubliner Cheese Toasties with Prosciutto and Tomato
I don’t either but I LOVE the smell of it, and coffee ice cream and other coffee flavored things so I bet this tastes wonderful! Actually I often use coffee in place of water if I’m throwing together a box mix along with a package of instant choc. pudding powder and YUM! Mocha cake! Odd though, I hate coffee itself!
I detest the taste of coffee, but, I do use it in every chocolate recipe that calls for hot water. You can’t taste. Seriously, you can’t. It just gives the chocolate a deeper, richer flavor. You’d be surprised at the chocolate cakes you’ve eaten that has coffee in it without you ever knowing it. It’s ok. Use it. Seriously, there’s not enough money on this earth to get me to drink it. I buy those small boxes that have 6 single packs in it. I buy it at the Dollar Tree. I use 2 of them in the hot water and then just poor it into the cake batter. You can use regular or decaf. Doesn’t matter. I often interchange them. Hope you try it. You’ll be very pleasantly surprised.
Just for clarification. It’s instant coffee I buy and use.
Where do you find, ground hazelnuts?
Karen, Your local Walmart may have it. If not, it can usually be found in the supermarket near the other flours, or if you have a gluten free or specialty foods section in your market, sometimes it is there. Other names for it are hazelnut flour and hazelnut meal. In a pinch, Amazon also sells it!
– Kaitlin
Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That recently posted..Dubliner Cheese Toasties with Prosciutto and Tomato
Can you make it with real brown sugar not an artificial sugar? Artificial sugars give me migraines. If so how much brown sugar would I have to sub in?
It looked lovely – until I saw it had Splenda in it. A conversion for a real foodstuff was not provided, guessing might not give a good result, and I like to avoid fake food. So unfortunately I will be passing this by.
Hi Ruth.
This post is sponsored by Splenda. I’m sure the conversion for SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend can be found through a quick google search.
Happy baking!