Italian Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c hazelnuts (about 8 oz), toasted and husked (I bought hazelnuts at Whole Foods which were already toasted, so avoided that step)
• 8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 10 T butter
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 c sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour an 8″ or 9″ springform pan.

Finely grind the hazelnuts in a food processor.  Stir the chocolate and butter together in a medium pan over low heat.  Cook and stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is totally melted.  Remove from heat and let the mixture cool.

In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Without cleaning the beater, in a small bowl beat the yolks and sugar until the yolks are thick and pale yellow – about 3 minutes.  Don’t get lazy here.  Your cake will suffer if the egg yolks are under-beaten.

Fold the yolk mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture, then fold the yolk/chocolate mixture into the beaten egg whites.  Fold in the ground hazelnuts.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 35 minutes.  The cake should be set, but a toothpick inserted in the middle may have a few crumbs.  Transfer to a rack and let it cool for about 30 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake.  Remove the pan sides and invert the cake and remove the pan bottom and let the cake cool completely.

The cake can be served with a chocolate glaze, but I prefer just a dusting of powdered sugar and maybe a bit of whipped cream – or perhaps a decadent caramel sauce.