Almost Flourless Hazelnut Chocolate Torte

I bought these beautiful hazelnuts from Gustiamo.com straight from Piemonte. I detest the flavor of fake hazelnuts but when I can get a hold of fresh, high quality nuts, I love to toast them up and keep them around as a snack or as a nice addition to salads and for baking. Today I was inspired to make a simple cake, which totally can be 100% flourless, but it will be a bit more dense.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups plain hazelnuts (no skins)

• 5 large eggs, separated

• Pinch cream of tartar

• 1 cup regular white sugar

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or almond flour (optional, but if you omit, it will be very very dense)

• Pinch of teaspoon salt 

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened 

• 7 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Once preheated, spread the hazelnuts out on the pan and toast in the oven lightly, shaking the pan every now and again. Let cool and turn the oven down to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, beat the egg whites with the pinch of cream of tartar until stiff peaks are formed and set aside.

In a food processor, grind the nuts with the sugar, flour and salt until finely ground and set aside.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave until melted. Allow it to cool.

Now beat the butter and the egg yolks in a bowl until smooth and add the hazelnut mixture on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir in the chocolate. Once combined, fold in the egg whites thoroughly.

Pour into (ideally) a spring form pan. I grease mine with shortening but if you have baking spray or parchment, that will work nicely too.

Bake for 40 minutes and remove from oven. Allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then pop out and let it continue to cool on a baking rack. Serve with a dusting of sugar, powdered sugar, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. This also goes nicely with strawberries.