Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

In my case, it was chocolate mint hazelnut cake!! I was just over being sick..well I was still sick, but no longer courageous, and my head was very foggy. I was determined to make a cake, as I had committed to bringing a dessert to my friend Becca's wedding shower. She is Celiac, so I had to bring something gluten free. I  picked out this recipe on pinterest, which is from Good Housekeeping originally.I simplified it by not making a frosting, and I don't feel it needs it.  I was almost out of baking chocolate so went out to get some the morning of the shower, and accidentally took mint chocolate chips instead of regular semi-sweet.

I was wondering if I was going crazy or why I was smelling mint. Had I not rinsed the pot properly?

Lucky, chocolate mint is a good combo and with half regular chocolate, half mint chocolate the cake still turned out, and was eating up.



This recipe was a lot easier for me, as I had leftover ground hazelnuts from my macaroons. This can be made in advance, or can likely be bought already ground. That will save a lot of time and effort.

Ingredients:
1 cup(s) hazelnuts (filberts )
1 1/4 cup(s) sugar
8 ounce(s) semisweet chocolate, chopped or chocolate chips/mint chocolate chips
4 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine
5 large eggs
3/4 cup(s) heavy or whipping cream

The eggs here are what help fill in for lack of flour.

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9-inch spring form pan. Line bottom with waxed or parchment paper; grease paper.
- Place hazelnuts in 15 1/2-inch by 10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pan. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, shaking pan occasionally. Remove pan from oven. Wrap hot hazelnuts in clean cloth towel; with hands, roll hazelnuts back and forth until as much skin as possible rubs off. Cool nuts completely.
- In food processor with knife blade attached, place 3/4 cup nuts and 1/4 cup sugar; pulse until finely ground. With chef's knife, roughly chop remaining nuts; set aside separately.
- In 3-quart saucepan, melt chocolate and butter on medium-low, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, in large bowl, with mixer on medium-high speed, beat eggs and 1/2 cup sugar 7 minutes or until tripled in volume. With rubber spatula, fold in chocolate mixture, then fold in ground-nut mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35 minutes or until top is dry and cracked and toothpick inserted in center comes out slightly wet. --Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove side of pan and cool 30 minutes longer on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Also look at these cute gift boxes for wedding favours. Aren't they sweet? (even sweeter that they were filled with chocolate and tea!)