Family birthday cake

I have an excuse for this blogging silence. I didn’t have Internet when in Amsterdam. And the weather was just too nice to be spending time indoors. Oh, and it was my birthday too, so I was busy cooking and baking. But this week, I intend to be back on schedule… To appease you all, here comes the “secret” recipe of my family’s birthday cake. Originally baked by my grandmother and then adapted over time by my parents and eventually me. My mouth is water only from thinking about it... 

Ingredients for the dough (for 1 cake, 26 cm in diameter):

120g butter

300g sugar

4 eggs

65g grated hazelnuts

65g grated almonds

150g chocolate powder (like Caotina or Nesquik)

10cl cream

225g flour

1 packet baking powder (or 1 knife tip of bi-carbonate)

Ingredients for the topping:

175g butter

250 icing sugar

150g dark chocolate (“Crémant”)

15ml Kirsch

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a bowl (over boiling water) and mix in the sugar. Separate the eggs (keep the egg white apart) and add the egg yolks. Add the hazelnuts, almonds and chocolate powder, as well as the cream. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix. Finally, beat the egg white (until stiff) and add it into the mass. Bake the cake in the oven at low level, at 200°C for 40 minutes (to test whether the cake is ready, stick a knitting needle into the cake: when the dough is no longer sticking to it, the cake is baked).

For the topping, melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl (over boiling water). Mix the two and then sieve in the icing sugar. Add the Kirsch (it is optional) and cool the topping in the fridge until it has the right consistency (to spread it). Cut the cake in half (horizontally) once it is cooled out. Spread about 1/3 of the topping on top of the lower half. Then close the cake again and spread the rest of the topping on top. Decorate (with Smarties for example). 

A little tip: the cake is actually even better after one day in the fridge!