A cake that tastes like Nutella but has no Nutella and is completely healthy? This Hazelnut Cacao Cake is the one and it only has 6 ingredients. Incredibly easy, mix-and-bake, one-bowl, gluten-free cake recipe that you will want to bake every week!
A recipe I created for my workshops back in 2015, it was a staunch favourite with everyone who tasted it at morning tea during the workshops. This rustic but moist Hazelnut Cacao Cake was gluten-free, low in sugar (unrefined), extremely fuss-free one-bowl in nature and tasted like Nutella batter. No wonder everyone wanted the recipe! For the better part of the past two years, I have been sending people pictures of my handwritten recipe as I never got around to posting it on the blog despite making it at least once a month. And now here it is, at long last.
This is my favourite type of cake. Easy to scale up and down, easier still to adapt with substitutions for slight flavour variations or to accommodate intolerances. You could use a store-bought/homemade hazelnut meal. I often make hazelnut milk and use the cud or meal left over from making the milk for this recipe (same quantity as in the recipe). The hazelnut and chocolate combination is so much like Nutella, just healthier.
Cocoa butter (derived from the cocoa bean) is an excellent vegan substitute for regular butter. Coconut butter is another excellent vegan substitute and healthier than coconut oil in the sense it has fibre and iron too as it is basically coconut meat. It makes the cake richer and more decadent. I have even tried baking cake this with olive oil for a lighter version (approximately 150ml). It is ripe for experimentation, extremely forgiving and one of the quickest things you will put together on an especially quiet afternoon. Plus a thin slice really goes a long way.
Unadorned and simple, so delicious that it doesn't need prettying or covering up with icing and flowers. Plus, there is a definite goth vibe going on here with the dark of the cacao and the theatre of the crochet tablecloth. Which would make it the perfect Halloween offering! Hope you make this and if it becomes a regular in your kitchen, I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments/ratings below. Happy Halloween! Enjoy. xx
Recipe
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Ingredients
- 180 g hazelnut meal
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder
- 60 g desiccated coconut
- 170 g rapadura sugar, or golden caster sugar
- 3 small eggs, lightly whisked
- 200 g melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- pinch of salt
- extra cacao powder or icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C (convention)/160C (fan-forced/convection). Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm springform pan.
- Place all ingredients for the cake (except the cacao powder/icing powder for dusting) in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.
- Pour batter in the prepared tin. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 40-45 minutes until cake is cooked and starts coming away from the edges.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15-20 minutes before gently removing it. Dust with extra cacao powder/icing sugar and serve warm.
Thanks for this delicous recipe. I made it for Christmas lunch and everyone loved it! So easy to make too x
hi Sneh, I am always curious when recipes say "desiccated coconut". Which size did you use, and is it a must? Being from SE Asia, the desiccated coconut I relate to are the very fine type, whereas I noticed that those mostly sold here in the Australian major supermarkets are the courser type.
Jayell, I use the very fine desiccated coconut (when it says desiccated coconut). It isn't a must, you could sub it with just more hazelnut in this recipe or add coconut flour/almond meal too. I just find that the desiccated coconut adds a really nice texture giving the cake a lovely crumb. Just using nut meal would make the cake a bit more dense but equally delicious. You are right, not all supermarkets stock the desiccated coconut. Shredded coconut is more prevalent. Although I find both quite easily at Coles. x
Made this at the weekend and it was a huge hit - dense and chocolaty with a moist crumb but not overly heavy. Delicious!
Well, that sounds like my kind of cake! I can't stand sugar-bomb chocolate cakes! This will have to go on my list of to-try recipes. 🙂
yummy hazelnut cake.. i would try it thanks for sharing this recipe Sneh.
Hi Sneh - just letting you know I made this on Monday and everyone loved it. I substituted almond meal for the hazelnut meal and cut the sugar back to 110g so it wasn't too sweet but still absolutely delicious. A winner for sure 🙂
Could I substitute almond meal for hazelnut meal?
yes! absolutely 🙂