A classic of Piedmontese pastry that sees the typical fruit of its land as its protagonist: hazelnuts. A typical peasant dessert, which we wanted to revisit with that unconventional and innovative spirit typically Piedmontese: triple-layered and double-stuffed with Nutella®
If Piedmont were a season, it would be autumn, because in autumn the best that nature has to offer in this region arrives on the tables: wine, truffles and hazelnuts. Like the other local specialties, the Piedmont IGP hazelnuts they are ranked among the best in the world, and are the inevitable ingredient of traditional desserts. First of all: the hazelnut cake.
Originally this dessert was prepared with the surplus of hazelnuts at the end of the season, it was a classic of the end of the year holidays and before the panettone arrived on tables all over Italy, it was the conclusion of the Christmas lunch. From the Langhe and Roero where hazelnut crops are concentrated, this one cake of humble origins and peasant houses has become widespread throughout the region.
As with many traditional Italian recipes, it is difficult to find the original because every valley, every town and every family has its own – and of course, every grandmother as well as the most famous pastry chefs are all convinced that theirs is the best! It can be found with or without flour, soft and leavened or lower and crumbly … there is something for everyone. And creativity is certainly not lacking in Piedmont. Non-conformism and the desire for innovation flow in fact in the veins of the Piedmontese: here radio, cinema, industry and great entrepreneurial projects were born and developed that have given life to companies that have marked the history and Italian culture . Very Made in Italy, in all fields, it is truly Made in Piedmont.
With creativity and innovation we therefore wanted to reinterpret the classic hazelnut cake, combining it with another must of Piedmontese pastry, Nutella®. We asked two guys who weren't afraid to take risks, Flavio and Chiara, who have chosen to live in the mountains and to reopen a bakery in Ostana – a mountain village in the province of Cuneo. The first, after 40 years. Today they bake sourdough bread, zero km rye flour, sweets, cornmeal pastries, biscuits, bread sticks, pizza and, of course, hazelnut cake. Here in a perfect version for a snack: a double content of hazelnuts, filled with Nutella®.
Hazelnut cake with Nutella ®
Ingredients for a cake with a diameter of 22 cm (for 6/8 people)
350 g of shelled and toasted hazelnuts
150 g of butter
250 g of sugar
100 g of flour
3 eggs
a pinch of salt a packet of yeast
120 g of Nutella®
cocoa
50 g of sanded hazelnuts
Method
Finely chop the hazelnuts and mix them with the sugar, flour and yeast. Soften the dough with lightly beaten egg yolks, melted butter, a pinch of salt and, lastly, the whipped egg whites.
Work the mixture gently and place it in a greased and floured baking pan. Bake in a static oven at 170 ° for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool and cut the cake to obtain three discs of the same thickness stuff the base and spread over half of the Nutella ®, add another disc and distribute the remaining Nutella® over it, complete with the last disc and press lightly to better settle the cake .
Decorate with a sprinkle of cocoa and some split sanded hazelnuts.
Credits:
Protagonists: Flavio Appendino – Chiara Pautasso Production company: MIA production
Executive producer: Vanessa Valerio – Luca Caliri Directed by: Alberto Cozzutto
Food stylist: Elisa Lanci
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