Gluten Free Chocolate Mousse Cake, Praline & Frangelico Cream

Gluten Free baking doesn’t have to be restrictive in taste or indulgence. This Chocolate Mousse Cake has real swoon appeal - a rich but light flour-free cake topped with a layer of hazlenut spread, then oodles of Frangelico laced cream, shards of hazlenut praline and a final flourish of salted caramel.

Chocolate Mousse Cake with Hazelnut Praline. Serves 12

Cake Ingredients:

• 50g lightly toasted skinned whole hazlenuts
• 1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
• 200g butter, diced
• 150g caster sugar
• 300g dark chocolate, min 70% cocoa
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 6 medium free range eggs, yolks & whites separated
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Praline Ingredients

• 125g caster sugar
• 50g lightly toasted skinned whole hazlenuts
• pinch salt flakes (Maldon)

Decoration

• 300ml double cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tbsp Frangelico Hazlenut Liquer (optional)
• Nutella or other hazlenut spread
• Salted caramel for drizzling

Cake Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C fan, 180C regular. Grease a 23cm springform cake tin then dust base and sides with cocoa powder, shaking off excess.
2. In a pot, melt the butter and sugar over a gentle heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, tip in the chocolate and allow to melt. Stir to combine then pour into a large mixing bowl.
3. Blitz the 50g hazlenuts and the brown sugar together in a food processor. With a hand whisk, beat the egg yolks into the melted chocolate mix one by one then mix in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the ground hazlenut mix until combined.
4. In a clean, dry bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir a large spoonful into the chocolate mix to loosen it, then gently fold in remaining whites until well incorporated. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and place on a baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for 50 minutes until almost set but still a little gooey in the centre when you insert a skewer. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before releasing the sides of the tin. Allow to cool fully before decorating.

Praline Method

1. While cake is cooling, make the praline by tipping the caster sugar into a pot and heating gently. Do not stir but occassionaly shake the pot.
2. Once sugar is melted you need to cook it until it turns golden brown then remove from the heat and tip in the hazlenuts and sea salt flakes. Pour imediately onto a baking tray lined with silicon or parchment and spread out by tipping the tray or using a metal knife or spatula.
3. DO NOT TOUCH WITH YOUR HANDS! Allow to cool solid then break into pieces for deocration.

To Decorate

1. Pour cream, icing sugar and Frangelico into a bowl and whip to soft peak stage.
2. Spread the cake with a layer of Nutella (or other spread), warming if it’s a bit stiff.
3. Top with the cream, then the shards of praline and finish with a drizzle of salted caramel (homemade or from a jar or tin, but you may need to warm to make it runny).