ABC - Hazelnut Rocher Cake

That's this month's ABC recipe. Of course, I had to convert it to an Almond Rocher Cake where I replaced hazelnut meal with almond meal.

Some ABC folks reported crumbliness issues, so I set out to make just half the recipe using my 6" round pan and fix the crumbly texture by adding more egg to the recipe. The weather was really hot so I quickly decided to forego the creamy filling, and serve it as a tea cake instead. This worked out really well. I took it to work where everybody loved it. Honestly, I loved it too and so did hubby who's normally not a chocolate fan. Would I bake this again? With my modifications, you betcha!

Almond Rocher Cake with an apricot glaze and finely chopped European milk chocolate

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

The batter came together really quickly. I didn't even need my stand mixer or hand mixer. Just two bowls and a manual whisk.

To make sure the cake rose and baked evenly in the oven, I decided to use my Wilton cake strips.

This is a 6" x 3" spring form pan

Nice height!

Since I was taking the cake to work, I made a small one for us to sample

Flipped it upside down to have a nice smooth top to work with

Brushed it with warm and strained apricot jam and then sprinkled it with finely chopped European milk chocolate

A bit of my sample cake. It was chocolatey, moist with a hint of espresso.

Of course I had to eat another piece at work too. Bon Appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby liked it a lot and gave it a 9 out of 10 rating.
• I loved the cake as well. It had plenty of chocolate flavor with a hint of espresso. It was soft and moist with a subtle almond flavor. Would definitely make this again, even as just a tea cake.
• Ingredients list for the 6" cake (half the recipe), with my changes included:
• 50g dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup (75ml) boiling water
• 1/8 cup (12g) Dutch cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp espresso powder
• 3-1/2 tbsp (50g) clarified unsalted butter (this made the cake richer)
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs (instead of 1-1/2 eggs)
• 1/2 cup (71g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (left the salt amount unchanged because salt compliments chocolate)
• 1/4 cup (25g) almond meal or finely ground almonds
• Follow the instructions on Christina's blog.
• Exception: I added cocoa powder and espresso powder to the boiling water to allow them to "bloom". If the recipe has hot liquid, I prefer that method vs adding these powders to the dry ingredients.
• Don't forget to check out the other ABC bakers.