This delicious Fudge Brownie Bundt Cake was inspired by a recipe that came free with the fabulous new Nordic Ware Bundt tin that I brought! They call it a tunnel of hazelnut fudge cake. From what google tells me, tunnel of fudge cakes are a very popular recipe in USA, made famous in the 1966 when one won second place in a Pillsbury baking competition.
I changed the recipe slightly from the Nordic Ware recipe, by using a mix of hazelnuts and walnuts. The original recipe uses walnuts and the Nordic Ware recipe uses hazelnuts so I thought I would use a mix of the two. I also topped it with a white chocolate ganache and decorated it with chopped mini eggs. Perfect for Easter.
This cake is unbelievable! It is like a soft gooey brownie in cake form. When you slice it, it has a ‘tunnel’ of fudgy nutty chocolate running through it. It is best served warm but is also delicious served cold (and I am sure hot too!) I discovered that it freezes really well when sliced up and put in freezer bags. You can just take a slice out of the freezer every time you want one and let it come up to room temperature.
As I explained earlier, I used a mixture of walnuts and hazelnuts to make this cake. Although I left the skins on the walnuts, I would suggest that you buy blanched roasted hazelnuts as you don’t want to leave skins on the hazelnuts (they may give the cake a bitter taste). If you can’t find blanched hazelnuts, then you will have to de-skin them yourself and that’s a messy job! Unfortunately, no shops around here stocked blanched hazelnuts so I had to blanch and roast my own. I used this method which was easy compared to other ways I’ve tried in the past, but I still ended up with a purple kitchen.
I hope that you enjoy this cake – I challenge you not to!
Recipe
Fudge Brownie Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup hazelnuts skinned and toasted (140g)
- 1 cup walnuts (130g)
- 2 cups all purpose flour (240g)
- 2 cups icing sugar/powdered sugar (230g)
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder (65g)
- 2 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature (285g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (160g)
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (50g)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the white chocolate ganache
- 10 ounces white chocolate (finely chopped)
- 2/3 cup double/heavy cream (150g)
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan/ 350F. Prepare a 10 inch bunt pan by lightly buttering it then giving it a very light dusting of cocoa powder. Knock any excess cocoa out.
- Place the skinned, roasted hazelnuts and walnuts into a processor and pulse until they are very finely chopped.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar at a medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Turn down the mixer to a low speed and add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add one or two level tablespoons of flour to the mix if it starts to separate.
- Add the oil and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl and beat until just combined.
- In a separate bowl place the flour, salt and chopped nuts and mix with a spoon to combine (do this so that the nuts don't clump together when mixing into the wet mixture)
- Take the bowl off the stand mixer and gently fold the flour & nut mix into the wet ingredients until they are just combined.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared bundt pan and place in the middle of the preheated oven.
- The cake needs to cook for 40 - 45 minutes. As the cake is designed to be very moist and fudgy in the middle you can not test to see whether it is done by using a cake tester. Instead, wait until the cake has started to pull away from the cake tin.
- Remove the cake from the oven and leave in the cake tin for 45 - 60 minutes. This is important as turning the cake out too early may result in some of the middle oozing out!
- Once the cake has cooled for 45 minutes or so turn it out onto the serving plate you want to use.
For the chocolate ganache
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place into a heatproof bowl.
- Place the cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour over the chopped chocolate and leave for 1 minute. Stir very gently in a circular motion until the the chocolate has melted and has combined with the cream.
- Add the tablespoon of butter and stir until it is incorporated.
- Leave to thicken before drizzling it over the top of your cake.
- Decorate with chopped up mini eggs!
Welcome to Drizzld & thank you for dropping by! Have a look around and feel free to get in touch with any questions you have about any of the recipes on here.
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