Norwegian Hazelnut Cake Recipe

• ¾ cup Hazelnuts
• ½ cup Butter
• 1½ cups White Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ½ cup heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 cup semisweet Chocolate Chips
• 3 Eggs
• ½ tsp Vanilla Extract

• Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
• Grease a 10-inch springform pan lightly.
• Blend the hazelnuts in a food processor until coarsely ground, reserving 8 whole nuts for garnishing.
• Reserve 1 tbsp of ground hazelnuts to use as a garnish.
• Transfer butter to a small saucepan and melt it over low heat. Remove and cool.
• Combine eggs, white sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat the mixture till it becomes thick and lemon colored, for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add flour, baking powder, salt and ground nuts. Mix well.
• Beat the mixture while adding the cooled melted butter gradually. Mix till well blended.
• Pour the batter into the greased pan.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Remove and cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
• Remove the cake from the pan and transfer onto a serving plate.
• Cover the cake with a cloth towel and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
• Heat whipping cream in a medium saucepan until just boiling.
• Remove from heat and mix in chocolate chips. Stir to melt the chips and smooth out the mixture.
• Add in ½ tsp vanilla extract and stir well.
• Spread the cream mixture over the cooled cake, allowing it to run down to the sides.
• Sprinkle the reserved ground nuts around the top edge of the glaze.
• Arrange whole hazelnuts over the ground nuts.