hazelnut molasses cake

This cake. This cake has taught me how not to care. It came out of the pan, it fell apart. When I cut the slices, crumbs peppered the frosting. Who cares? Not to dive deep into laissez-faire, but who cares. My type-A cooking personality usually comes out strongest when baking, competing with myself at every cracking and collapsed cake, but I learned, who cares. I cut a slice of this cake only to put an entire two layers on top. You want to know what I did? I turned it away from everyone so they couldn’t see my eagerness in the cake - nobody even noticed.

What a revelation.

This is such a good beginner but complex cake - all made in one bowl, no creaming of sugar and butter. Every single wet ingredient in this cake is the exact same (in volume), ½ cup. It couldn’t be easier.

Most molasses cakes, or deserts, are met with spices - ginger, nutmeg, allspice - all very good and makes sense as to why they have been paired together for generations. I wanted to do something new (not healthy for the type A’s). Roasted hazelnuts and (a little) cocoa powder, inspired by the incredible Ferraro Rocher. Chocolate is the most incredible enhancer of molasses - brightening its bitterness in a good way while not covering the lacquer like sweetness of the molasses.

Any frosting works, but I believe in a mildly sweet, extremely tangy frosting. This brown butter cream cheese frosting, used on my perfect carrot cake - it’s perfect.

It can easily be doubled for a layer cake, or left in a single layer to devour, a choose your own adventure.

It feels good to be able to innovate (if you can call it that) on such a classic ingredient, molasses. To be able to give people an option that isn’t the typical - it reinvigorates my love for cooking every single time.

Hazelnut Molasses Cake

tools - 9 inch round cake pan

Ingredients

Dry

• 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour / 175g

• 1 tsp of baking powder

• 1 tsp of diamond crystal kosher salt

• ¼ cup of cocoa powder

• ½ cup of toasted, finely chopped hazelnuts

Wet

• ½ cup of brown sugar / 110g

• ½ cup of buttermilk / 120g

• ½ cup of vegetable oil / 115g

• ½ cup dark molasses / 170g

• 1 large egg / 50g

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep your cake pan with butter and flour or non-stick spray and parchment paper. If you are not using pre roasted hazelnuts, this is when you can toast them until golden brown in the oven, then let cool completely.

2. In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, molasses and the egg by whisking them together. Then, slowly stream in the oil and butter milk, while whisking, until completely incorporated then set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and kosher salt) then set aside. Finely chop the hazelnuts, or until the volume of hazelnuts doubles.

4. Combine the wet ingredients into the dry then fold together until just before fully incorporated. Add in the chopped hazelnuts and finish combining the batter.

5. Add the cake batter into an even layer in the cake pan and bake for 25-35 minutes or until the cake is set and comes out clean when tested.

6. Let cool completely and frost with your favorite frosting.

Hazelnut Molasses Cake

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