Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Caramel Sauce and Dark Chocolate Ganache drizzle

Recipe Source: http://www.fondbites.com/bake-along-40-hazelnut-white-chocolate-cake/

Cake:
Ingredients:

•  Unsalted butter – 70 gms
• Castor Sugar – 1 cup
• 2 tablespoon flax meal dissolved in 6 scant tablespoons of water
• Apple cider vinegar – 1 tablespoon
• All-purpose flour – 1 1/4 cup
• Baking powder – 1 teaspoon + 1 pinch 
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
• Milk – 1/3 cup
• Hazelnuts – 2/3 cup
• Dark chocolate chips – 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (top and bottom on), line a rack in the middle of the oven
2. Mix the flaxmeal and set aside
3. Measure the hazelnuts and blitz them until they are like breadcrumbs
4. Mix once and then sieve together the maida, baking powder and salt  
5. Beat the butter on medium speed until soft and fluffy.
6. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture becomes pale yellow, creamy and fluffy.
7. Add the flax meal and vinegar and beat until just incorporated
8. Add the milk and flour alternately in 1/3rds; ending with the flour
9. Fold in the dark chocolate chips
10. Fold in the hazelnut meal
11. The batter will be very thick like a brownie batter.  Transfer to the greased and floured bundt pan and spread with a spatula to make uniform
12. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until you can smell the cake - bake with bottom rod alone on

Glaze:

Caramel Sauce (inspired from Brown Eyed Baker http://www.browneyedbaker.com/homemade-salted-caramel-sauce-recipe/): 

Ingredients:

Granulated sugar 1 cup

1-2 tbsp water

6 tbsp butter

1/2 cup amul cream

Put the sugar and the water in a large pan (pressure pan) and heat on medium heat until the sugar begins to melt.  Move around the pan a little bit to ensure the sugar is not sticking.  Wait and the sugar will start to caramelize.  Wait until you see a deep amber color and the surface of the sugar is full of bubbles.  Add the butter all at once once the color is achieved.  The caramel will rise up when you add the butter, so be careful when doing this.  Once the butter is whisked well into the caramel, add the cream and then switch off the stove.  Mix in the cream into the caramel to get the caramel sauce.  

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

60 g dark chocolate 

1/4 cup amul cream

1/2 tbsp butter

Chop chocolate into tiny pieces or grate

Heat cream till bublling

Pour cream over chocolate

Allow to rest a minute, then mix well to get a glossy ganache.

Cool the cake completely, then drizzle both ganache and caramel alternately using a piping bag (with the end snipped off) over the cake.  

This is a very soft cake, to cut neat slices, refrigerate the cake.  Cake texture does not become hard on refrigeration.

Baked for Fond Bites Bake Along # 40 for Subhashini Ramsingh.