hazelnut.

hmm luckily this cake is not for outsiders to try. i kind of failed on the cake, although i know what exactly should have been done to prevent the error; i just didn't think of it at the moment i made the big mistake =(

nevertheless, i think i can trust nigella lawson completely to give me workable recipes! so here is my first attempt at a nigella lawson recipe:

torta alla gianduia (hazelnut cake)

oh the lovely lindt block that i'm finally breaking into. shall try valrhona next time =)
using a double boiler to melt it. surprisingly, this chocolate melted very quickly and nicely, unlike the couverture i used last time, though couverture is supposed to be superior.
six eggs separated nicely, just that i broke my first yolk when i transferred it to the big bowl.
this is the first time i am making a cake so big. it took me quite a while to find a 23cm-cake pan! and this is the cake pan greased with crisco shortening and lined.
ah, doesn't nutella look extremely seductive once it's out of the bottle? trust me - it is! scooping it out by the dollops is strangely satisfying too... oh yes the fleck of thing on the left side of the second picture, however much it looks like a cockroach, is just nutella.
the nutella beaten with butter! omg glossiness = happiness!
folding in the melted lindt chocolate. the only thing i deviated from nigella's recipe is that i didn't put in ground hazelnuts, because i wouldn't have enough for the stunning decorations (see below); i decided to let the nutella do its job.
folded with the whisked egg whites. i didn't know exactly when to stop the whisking of the egg whites though. it was supposed to be 'stiff but not dry'. i don't exactly know what that point is, but i guess i shouldn't have gone too far with the whisking.
from batter to cake! ok, here is where the biggest error came =( you see, the top of the cake started to get burnt before the baking time was up, and i just took the cake out immediately without thinking through my options. the result? a cake that had only undergone half the required baking time. i knew that if i just covered the cake with a foil i could continue baking it completely; i just didn't think of it at that moment!
so anyway, when i tipped the cake out of the pan it was still wobbly. tell-tale sign that everyone knows means the cake is so not done! that was when i realised that i baked it for twenty minutes only. but too late, i can't put it back in to bake further. and so, as the cake cooled, it kept deflating until it looked like a caldera.
preparing for icing of the cake! despite the incompletely baked cake, i still went on with icing it, just to complete the outside, so that i can take a photo and remember it =( toasting hazelnuts, or any nuts, was a first for me. i was so afraid that i would burn any of them. not cheap!
and the final not-so-ideal-looking product! i guess professionally, it would fail so much on aesthetics, but it'll probably look super good to a child! personally, i think scattering the hazelnuts on top makes for a very stunning presentation.

the cake sits in the refrigerator now. in the back of my mind, i'm contemplating if i should eat the half-cooked cake. for now, i'm enjoying the leftover nutella straight from the bottle =) and contrary to what i would usually do, which is to keep trying a recipe until i get it right, i think i will leave this torta alla gianduia alone for some time, because i trust nigella lawson completely to give me workable recipes!