Need help with "hazelnut" cake...

[theferlyone]

My boyfriend has requested a hazelnut cake for his birthday. I wanted to make the hazelnut brown butter cake from Sunday Suppers at Luques, but I can't find hazelnut flour/meal anywhere, and my food processor just died, so making my own isn't an option. I'm a good cook when I have a recipe to follow, but I'm not a confident enough baker to try to, say, add Frangelico to a recipe and hope for the best. Does anyone have any recipes or suggestions for a hazelnut-flavored cake without using actual hazelnuts? Thanks in advance!

[maxie]

If you have frangelico, make a simple syrup, add the Frangelico, and generously brush it on each cake layer before filling and stacking. Add whole hazelnut garnish to top of cake, or crushed hazelnuts to the side of cake. You can crush the nuts by putting them in a ziplock bag and gently crush them with a rolling pin.

[jaykayen]

Substitute almond meal. Make Nutella cake.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/n...

[theferlyone]

I haven't found almond meal, either...

[goodhealthgourmet]

do you have a blender or a coffee grinder? you can make your own hazelnut meal/flour in either of those - no need for the FP. and you didn't mention which stores you checked, but some Whole Foods locations carry hazelnut flour in the baking aisle.

[theferlyone]

I had one of those cool combination food processor/blender things that shared a base, and the motor crapped out...so no blender, either, and I don't drink coffee. I don't own a spice grinder, either, before anyone suggests it. :( I've tried every grocery store within 20 minutes of my house, as well as the food co-op near my office. The nearest Whole Foods or Trader Joe's is about 45 minutes away, and I just don't think I'm going to have time to get there. I feel like I sound whiny, and I don't mean to...I just don't think hazelnut flour, purchased or homemade, is going to be an option.

[goodhealthgourmet]

you don't sound whiny! in fact, laying it all out like that moves things along :)

so, moving on...have you considered using a recipe for almond cake? you can sub frangelico for amaretto liqueur and hazelnut extract for almond extract.

[theferlyone]

I'm completely open to that option, but a quick Google search turned up a bunch of recipes that called for almond paste rather than extracts or liqueurs. Do you have a specific recipe in mind?

[Violatp]

I once made a hazelnut cake with chocolate-nutella frosting. It seemed to me that most of the hazelnut flavor was in the frosting, really.

[theferlyone]

Yeah, that's a start...what did you do for the cake part, though? I'm actually planning on a mascarpone-espresso filling and a semi-sweet chocolate ganache on top.

[Violatp]

Can't help you, there. :-( I used hazelnut meal that I'm pretty sure was from Trader Joe's.

[paulj]

I regularly buy almond meal from TJ, but don't recall ever seen hazelnut meal. I just toasted and skinned some hazelnuts from TJ, and chopped a small batch fairly fine.

OP - have you tried chopping your hazelnuts with a knife? It might be worth your while.

[Violatp]

It must have been random or one of those localized things. I doubt I would have paid WF money for it!

[Violatp]

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tr...

This recipe, along with a few others it looks like, calls for extract and/or Frangelico plus finely chopped hazelnuts. Maybe you can do that by hand?

[theferlyone]

Ehh, maybe...might end up with a hazelnut and bloody finger cake, though. :-\