Serves 6-8
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
125g butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup self-raising flour
½ cup plain flour
¼ cup baking cocoa or dutch cocoa
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup hazelnut meal
½ cup milk
2 eggs
1 tbsp light olive oil
½ cup caster sugar
⅓ cup toasted hazelnuts
100g dark chocolate, extra
¼ cup cream
1 Preheat oven to 160C. Grease a 6-cup capacity fancy mould or 20cm cake tin with butter. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes. Re-brush mould with butter and line base with baking paper.
2 Put chocolate and butter into a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Sift flours, cocoa and bicarb soda over chocolate mixture. Add hazelnut meal and gently stir until combined.
3 Whisk milk, eggs and oil in a jug. Add to chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Spoon cake mixture into prepared cake pan. Smooth top. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. When cold, decorate with ganache and toffee hazelnuts.
4 To make toffee hazelnuts, put caster sugar into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat without stirring, shaking pan often, until sugar dissolves and turns a rich golden colour. Remove pan from heat and add hazelnuts. Remove one at a time, with tongs and place onto a sheet of baking paper. When cold and toffee is hard, store in an airtight container.
5 To make ganache, put extra chocolate and cream into a small heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate has melted and a smooth chocolate sauce forms.
