This dense, delicious cake is fantastic for any celebration and best of all, all you need to make it is five minutes, a mixing bowl and wooden spoon. Swap the hazelnuts with any other nut you prefer and of course instead of figs, any poached or fresh Autumn fruit would be beautiful here too.
CAKE
Ingredients
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 x cups (300g) hazelnut meal
5 x eggs
Seeds of one vanilla bean
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
150mls olive oil (not too peppery)
To Decorate
250g mascarpone cheese (softly whipped cream or thick Greek-style yogurt would be good here too)
1/3 cup (100g) toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
4-5 fresh figs, quartered
Caramel sauce (see recipe below)
Method
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 24cm cake tin.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined, pour into the cake tin, smooth the top and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the cake’s centre is springy to touch and it’s just coming away from the sides.
Let cool in the tin for five minutes then turn out to a rack to cool completely.
When ready to serve, spoon the mascarpone all over the cake, top with the hazelnuts, figs
and finish with a drizzle of caramel sauce.
SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE
Ingredients
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (75mls) water
1/2 cup (125mls) cream
1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
Method
For the caramel, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan on medium heat, swirl
around a little and then let cook until the sugar has dissolved completely into the water
and you have a dark, golden caramel.
This will take about five minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the cream and sugar then set aside.
Keep in the fridge until needed and don’t worry if it becomes too thick to pour, just pop in the microwave or return to a saucepan over medium heat for a minute before serving and it will pour and drizzle beautifully.