Hazelnut gateau with strawberries and cream

Name: Hazelnut gateau with strawberries and cream
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: one cake
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 6 egg whites; 1½ cups castor sugar; 50g vanilla sugar; ½ tsp white vinegar; 200g hazelnuts, ground (freshly ground, preferably); 1 tbsp espresso; 2 tbsp cornflour (check gluten-free if required)

Brigitte Hafner

May 20, 2020

Hazelnut gateaux with chocolate ganache, whipped cream and strawberries.Marina Oliphant

Time:1-2 hoursMakes:one cake

This is my mother's recipe. It's surprisingly light.

Ingredients

For the cake

6 egg whites
1½ cups castor sugar
50g vanilla sugar
½ tsp white vinegar
200g hazelnuts, ground (freshly ground, preferably)
1 tbsp espresso
2 tbsp cornflour (check gluten-free if required)

For the ganache

120ml cream
160g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped

To finish

2 cups cream
1 tbsp castor sugar
2 punnets strawberries
icing sugar for dusting

Method

For the cake
Pre-heat oven to 160C. Whip egg whites till firm, gradually add sugars, then vinegar and whip until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in ground hazelnuts, coffee and cornflour and spoon into a fully lined 27-28cm springform tin.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool. The gateau can be made the day before and stored in an airtight container.
For the ganache
Gently heat the cream until almost simmering, add the chocolate and remove from heat. Leave to sit for a few minutes then stir until combined. Pour over gateau and allow to set.
To assemble
Whip cream with sugar, spoon onto the gateau, top with berries and serve dusted with icing sugar.