This is a recipe for a tender, juicy, delicious and tasty Hazelnut Cake with Whipped Creme fraiche & Cherry Jam Topping. This cake is mostly made with simple and staple ingredients and is both quick and easy to make. Serve this cake as an afternoon snack, sweet treat or dessert. This cake is both gluten, oil and sugar free.
It’s a bit weird, I don’t like eating hazelnuts on their own, but I love everything that includes hazelnuts in it, especially hazelnut ice cream and hazelnut cake. Hazelnut cake is not something I bake very often, even though I love it. For me a hazelnut cake feels a bit extra luxurious and fancy with its wonderful nutty and creamy taste, musty and earthy notes and a gentle hint of buttery flavor. This hazelnut cake is incredibly moist, soft, juicy and tasty. It is baked with healthy ingredients, no oil, including both banana and apple sauce to add both moist and sweetness to it. I also added hazelnut butter to add an extra hazelnut punch to the cake. But don’t worry! The hazelnut taste is not at all overwhelming. This cake is delicate and well balanced. It is topped with whipped Creme fraiche for a fresh and tangy taste and home cooked cherry jam that add a nice sweet and tart taste along with a lovely texture from the cherry pieces. This cake is both gluten, oil and sugar free hence a healthy cake option.
A few tips:
- You can use bought hazelnut flour or make your own by running hazelnuts in a high speed blender until you have a flour like texture. It does not have to be completely smooth.
- I also added hazelnut butter to add a more distinct and rich hazelnut taste. You can adapt the amount of hazelnut butter with 1-2 tablespoons depending on how strong hazelnut taste you prefer.
- Make sure to use a ripe banana and mash it well.
- You can use ricotta or swap it for greek yogurt. This will affect the taste slightly though.
- When whipping the Creme fraiche you can add a bit of sweetener if you like, not too much though, only 1 tsp. I did not use any sweetener because I love the nice and fresh contrast it make with the hazelnut cake.
- You can use store bought cherry ham or cook your own. I used this recipe for my cherry jam.
Ingredients for this Hazelnut Cake with Whipped Creme fraiche & Cherry Jam Topping:
- Eggs
- Sugar free granulated sweetener
- Banana
- Apple sauce
- Ricotta (or Greek yogurt)
- Hazelnut butter
- Oat flour
- Hazelnut flour
- Cacao powder
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Creme Fraiche
- Cherry Jam
Other recipes you might like:
- Cherry Chocolate Oat Cake (Vegan, Gluten, Oil, Nut & Sugar Free)
- Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins (Gluten & Sugar Free)
- Cherry Almond Cake (Gluten, Oil & Sugar Free)
- Walnut Honey Cake with Cream Cheese & Frosting (Gluten, Oil & Refined Sugar Free)
- Polenta Cake with Mascarpone Cream, & Figs (Gluten, Egg & Sugar Free)
- Apple Ricotta Cake (Gluten, Oil & Sugar Free)
- Fig Coffee Cake (Gluten & Refined Sugar Free)
- Fudgy Black Bean Cherry Brownies (Vegan, Gluten, Sugar & Oil Free)
- Cherry Galette (Vegan, Gluten, Sugar Free & Lower In Fat)
- Rhubarb, Strawberry & Vanilla Custard Cake (Gluten & Sugar Free)
- Almond & Poppy Seed Cake with Plums (Gluten, Grain, Oil & Sugar Free)
- Spiced Sheet Cake (Gluten, Sugar & Oil Free)
- Cherry Cheesecake (Gluten, Sugar Free & Lower In Fat)
Hazelnut Cake with Whipped Creme fraiche & Cherry Jam Topping (Gluten, Oil & Sugar Free)
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- 2 dl Sugar free granulated sweetener
- 1/3 Banana mashed
- 4 tbsp Apple sauce
- 1 dl Ricotta (can sub for greek yogurt)
- 4 tbsp Hazelnut butter
- 2 dl Oat flour
- 1 dl Hazelnut flour
- 3 tbsp Cacao powder
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/3 tsp Baking soda
- A pinch of Salt
For the topping
- 1 dl Creme fraiche
- 1 tsp Sugar free granulated sweetener (optional)
- 8-10 tsp Cherry jam (see note 1 for the recipe I used)
Instructions
- Cook the cherry jam according if using home made. See note 1 for the recipe I used.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
- Line or greaser a 18 cm spring form.
- Combine oat flour, hazelnut flour, cacao powder, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
- Separate the eggs. Add the egg yolks to a bowl, save the egg whites for later.
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until fluffy using an electric whisk.
- Add mashed banana, apple sauce, ricotta and hazelnut butter and whisk to combine. Do not whisk for too long.
- Next add the dry ingredients and stir gently to incorporated.
- Add egg whites in a clean bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk using a clean whisk until stiff peaks start to form.
- Gently fold in a little bit of the the egg whites to the batter, gently stir to combine. Add the rest of the egg whites and gently stir to incorporate them. Do not overman, just until incorporated and no white streams from the egg whites show.
- Pour into the prepared spring form. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.
- Take out and let the cake cool before removing it from the spring form and cutting it.
- Add Creme fraiche and sugar (if using) in a bowl and whisk until the Creme fraiche is fluffy and light.
- When ready to serve top the cake with about one tablespoon of whipped Creme fraiche on each slice and top with about one teaspoon of cherry jam.