This gorgeous cake is a, perfect-for-Easter Hazelnut Cake. I mean, it could be an any day cake – birthday, baby shower or just for the fun of it cake but since I topped it with Easter eggs, it became an Easter cake.
Dreaming up a range of Easter desserts? Try this No Bake Marshmallow Easter Egg Slice and these Easy Easter Sugar Cookies too.
I’ve recently re-made this recipe to get some gorgeous new photos and to double-check the recipe and it’s still as amazing as I remember. The intense flavour of hazelnuts in the cake and the frosting, a glorious ganache to keep things easy, Easter eggs. A great way to use up leftover Easter chocolate, don’t you think?
Table of contents
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox!
This cake is filled with texture
This hazelnut cake is so different to any other cake I’ve made. It’s textural. I use ground hazelnuts in the batter, which gives a gorgeous nutty flavour and texture. Even the frosting – a whipped hazelnut frosting – is creamy but still textural with those little hazelnut pieces.
Similar to this Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, this one is ever so slightly dense but in a nice way. It’s moist and rich and perfect served for afternoon tea. Brown sugar and eggs give it richness and buttermilk keeps it tender.
How to make hazelnut cake
- Like with many cakes, you’ll start by beating together butter and sugar, until it’s lightened and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla to the mixture and beat them in too.
- Now add the dry ingredients one third at a time, with buttermilk in between.
- Divide it between two 20cm / 8 inch sandwich tins and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Once removed from the oven, let them cool for about 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
The whipped hazelnut buttercream
I love this buttercream and I’ve used it before to top these Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies. It’s a bit like the flavour of those Kinder Bueno Bars but rather than being a smooth buttercream, it has the texture of nuts through it while still being amazingly creamy and fluffy. It gets that from all the whipping.
If you’d prefer a smooth buttercream, you can leave the ground hazelnuts out of it.
- First, beat the butter and a little sugar until smooth and light, then add the rest of the sugar, quarter cup at a time with the mixer on low.
- Now add some cream, frangelico, vanilla and the ground hazelnuts if you’re using them and beat well.
- Finally, add white chocolate and beat it for a good 3 minutes until it’s looking fluffy and soft.
Tips for the buttercream
- Adding the icing / powdered sugar slowly means you won’t end up with sugar all over the kitchen.
- The white chocolate gives this buttercream a really creamy flavour and helps to set it a little more, meaning less sugar is needed to make it stiff enough to hold.
- Both the hazelnuts and Frangelico liqueur can be left out, to make this a whipped vanilla frosting instead.
Recipe tips and tricks
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: It’s important to bring chilled ingredients to room temperature before starting. Eggs and buttermilk especially. Butter should be softened enough to easily indent but not so soft that it’s greasy looking.
- Sandwich pans / tins: Are cake tins with a solid bottom that are perfect for baking layered cake layers. The sides are around 1 3/4 to 2 inches deep.
- All ovens vary: Very often, oven temperature does not actually match what the thermostat suggests, so may ovens run a little hot or cold. What takes 25 minutes in my oven may take 22 or 27 in yours. I always recommend keeping an oven-safe thermometer inside the oven attached to one of the racks, so you can keep an eye on your oven temp.
- Weigh ingredients when given a weight: If the recipe offers weight measurements, please use those if you can to measure out your ingredients. Thinks like flour and cocoa, especially as the way you fill your cup measure may give you more or less of these ingredients and it WILL make a difference to the result. Kitchen scales are cheap and last a lifetime.
Variations on this hazelnut cake
It doesn’t just need to be an Easter cake. Add any of your favourite chocolate candy as toppings and turn it into a birthday cake or baby shower cake, or just a cake to go with a cup of coffee.
You can also up the nuttiness by adding a touch of almond extract or just use ground almonds, instead of hazelnuts.
What do you have planned for Easter? Whatever it is, make sure it involves this Hazelnut Easter Cake. After being showered with chocolates, this simple cake will be a delicious change.
More cake recipes perfect for Easter
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Did you try this hazelnut cakerecipe? Show it some love in the comments below.
Hungry for more? Subscribe to the newsletter for free recipes straight to your inbox. Also, follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Ingredients
FOR THE HAZELNUT CAKE
- 226 g unsalted butter, softened (1 cup / 2 sticks)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar (100g / 3.5oz)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100g / 3.5oz)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain flour (all purp flour) (130g / 4.5oz)
- 1 ½ cups ground hazelnuts / hazelnut meal (150g / 5.3oz)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ cup buttermilk, room temp (180ml)
FOR THE HAZELNUT BUTTERCREAM
- 113 g unsalted butter, softened (1 stick / ½ cup)
- 1 ½ cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (195g/7oz)
- 100 g white chocolate, chopped (3.5oz )
- 2 tablespoons thickened cream (notes 1)
- 1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur, optional (notes 1)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup ground hazelnuts / hazelnut meal (50g / 2oz)
FOR THE TOPPING
- ⅓ cup thickened cream (heavy cream)
- 100 g dark chocolate (70%), finely chopped (½ cup / 3.5oz)
- variety of Easter eggs
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment are helpful
- 20cm / 8 inch sandwich tins / cake pans
Instructions
FOR THE HAZELNUT CAKE
- Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan forced. Grease 2x 20cm sandwich cake tins / pans, then line with baking paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy (roughly 3 minutes), scraping down sides of bowl from time to time.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each to combine and scrape down the bowl after each addition.
- Add ⅓ of flour to batter and fold through with a spatula.
- Now add half the buttermilk and mix gently. Repeat with remaining flour and buttermilk.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly in the tins before gently turning them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.
FOR THE HAZELNUT BUTTERCREAM
- Melt the white chocolate in 30 second bursts in the microwave, stirring well between each. Allow it to cool a little while you get on with the buttercream
- Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and creamy. Add the vanilla, cream. frangelico and hazelnut meal. Beat well.
- Add the cooled white chocolate and beat on medium-high for 3 minutes until it looks whipped and creamy.
- Spread half over one of the cakes. Top with the second cake, then spread the remaining buttercream over the top and a little around the sides. Place in the fridge to set.
TO DECORATE
- Place the chocolate in a small heatproof dish.
- Heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat until its bubbling, then pour it over the chocolate. Give the dish a gentle shake so all the chocolate is submerged. Leave for a few minutes, then stir to a smooth glossy ganache. Spread the ganache over the cake, letting some drip down the sides.
- Top with chocolate easter eggs (notes)
- Place in the fridge until the ganache has set.
- Please take a moment to rate this recipe. I really appreciate it and it helps me create more recipes.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (4 teaspooons worldwide)
- For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- If you are using whole hazelnuts, use a food processor to grind them down as fine as you can get them.
- This doesn’t need to be an Easter Cake. Add your favourite chocolate candy toppings (aka fererro rocher, lindt balls, smarties, m&m’s) to make a decadent birthday cake.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
14 Comments on “Easter Hazelnut Cake”
Hazelnuts are one of my favourite nuts, so this cake is right up my alley. It looks splendid too – love its elegant decor. Those “cracked” chocolate eggs on top are the best! Great job, Marie!
Thanks so much, Ben. Elegant decor, I love it 🙂
Hi Marie,
How thick does each layer come out? I only have one springform tin, so if I were to halve the recipe would a single cake be thick enough to cut in half for the layers, or would they be too thin to be practical?
If you don’t think that would work, can I make it in two 20cm sandwich pans (3.5cm deep), or would there be too much batter/rise too much for the pans? Would you adjust the baking time for these pans?
Hello Alice, the two sandwich tins would be the way to go. They’ll work fine. Happy baking 😀
Hi Marie,
Just letting you know I made the cake this weekend and the sandwich tins worked just fine, without any changes to the recipe.
Wasn’t too sure about all the individual elements when I tasted them on their own, but put them together and wow! That’s a great cake!
My only problem was the ganache was very very runny – even after two hours in the fridge it hadn’t gotten to a point where it could be used (if I had of tried put it on the cake it would all have just slid off!). In the end I heated it back up and added more chocolate until I could work with it.
Thanks so much for letting me know Alice. I’ll add some notes to the recipe. With the ganache, I am going to adjust that recipe as while it certainly worked for me originally as you can see in the pics, it’s not the consistency I turn to these days. I now use just 1/3 of a cup and omit the golden syrup. I will be updating this recipe in the near future with better tips and tricks, so I really appreciate your feedback 🙂
Can wait to try this, but was just wondering if I could use 6 inch tin so I can get 4 layer cake?
I haven’t tested this cake in a 6 inch tin but I believe it will work fine. Please let me know how it goes
Hi
Does 1/3 cup of corn flour/corn starch mean that you can use 1/3 cup of either? I’m writing from Canada and have never heard of corn flour. And 1/3 cup of corn starch seems like a lot.
The recipe looks wonderful so wanted to clarify this ingredient option before I begin.
Cheers
Mary
Hello Mary, Thanks for stopping by. I research as best I can for substitute ingredients and I believe they’re the same thing. Our corn flour squeaks when you rub it between your fingers. Here in Australia, we don’t have cake flour readily available so a mix of plain flour and corn flour combined = cake flour. You could use the equivalent quantity of cake flour, if you have that, to replace all the plain and corn flours in this recipe, for the same result. Please let me know how it turns out 🙂
Saw this on FoodGawker and had to click because it just looks so pretty! Love all of the eggs/egg shells on top!
Thanks, Bethany. I can’t resist Easter Eggs so this was a great excuse to have some 🙂
That is beautiful!! Great work. The Easter eggs on top five such an impressive look whilst be far more simple to do then other cakes with a similar cracked chocolate/chocolate shard look.
Thanks for the kind words, Chris. Tempering chocolate is on the list to learn but for now, I like this style of cake that anyone can make at home. Thanks for stopping by 🙂