Meet my tried and tested Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake that is both rich and delicate at the same time. Start with a chocolate hazelnut cake, spread it lovingly with hazelnut spread and add freshness with canned boysenberries. Cover in a delicious chocolate buttercream and decorate how ever you want. Perfect for an easy morning tea or a celebration cake.
Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - Keke Hānati Tiakarete Kore-Wīti
This Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake is so delicious and is perfect for any celebration. I love my chocolate hazelnut cake recipe for its combination of flavours. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that there was a keke (cake) available to our gluten free whānau too. Let's take a look at this recipe.
A simple breakdown of this Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake:
Begin this recipe by making a miraka pata (buttermilk) out of miraka (milk) and winika (vinegar). Next, make a powerful kōkō (cocoa) mixture that creates the base for the keke (cake). Whip hēki (eggs) with huka (sugar) and wanira (vanilla) and add the cocoa and buttermilk mixture in to it. Grind raw hānati (hazelnuts) into a crumb and combine it with the gluten-free ingredients. This is then combined with the wet ingredients and the batter is complete. Divide it between two cake tins and gently bake until they spring back in the centre.
As an option, swap the hānati (hazelnuts) for the same amount of peru oneone (ground almonds). So what are we waiting for, let’s bless someone with a delicious, homemade keke tiakarete me te hānati (chocolate and hazelnut cake).
Decorating this keke (cake):
Whip up a batch of creamy pani reka tiakarete (chocolate buttercream). Spread the rich pani reka tiakarete (chocolate buttercream) on to the cooled keke (cake). At this point, spread pani tiakarete hānati (chocolate hazelnut spread) in to the centre and add canned poihanapere (boysenberries). Cover the entire keke (cake) with the remaining pani reka (buttercream) and smooth it out. Decorate with fresh or freeze-dried hua (berries) and a sprinkling of kongakonga hānati (hazelnut crumbs). The colours, textures and flavours of this keke (cake) are just so dreamy.
You can also cover this keke (cake) in my dairy-free chocolate frosting and make this a dairy-free, gluten-free keke (cake) due to the absence of pata (butter) in the cake itself.
More tiakarete (chocolate) inspired keke:
Do you love the sound of this keke but don't need it to be gluten-free? I am one step ahead of you, check out my Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - it is truly divine! Or does tiakarete (chocolate) and aramona (almond) with biscoff sound more like you? Then this Chocolate Almond Cake is the keke (cake) for you.
Perhaps you want something with tiakarete (chocolate) but want it in a mawhene (muffin) form, stay with me. These Chocolate Ganache Muffins are absolutely want you need. Have a look at more of my tohutao keke (cake recipes) here.
Videography and photography by Sarah Henderson.
Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - Keke Hānati Tiakarete Kore-Wīti
Ingredients
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - Keke Tiakarete me te Hānati
- ¾ C (185 ml) miraka (milk)
- 2 tablespoon winika (vinegar, any kind apart from malt vinegar, you can also use the same amount of lemon juice)
- 1 C (100 g) kōkō
- ½ C (100 g) huka hāura (brown sugar)
- ½ teaspoon tote (salt, fine)
- ½ tablespoon paura kawhe (coffee powder, instant)
- 1 C (250 ml) wai wera (hot water, from the kettle)
- 3 hēki (eggs, size 6)
- 1 C (220 g) huka one (caster sugar)
- ½ tablespoon wanira (vanilla)
- ½ C (125 ml) noni (oil, neutral oil, I use olive oil but use what you have)
- 1 C (150 g) hānati (hazelnuts, whole and raw)
- 1 ½ (210 g) gluten-free baking mix (I use the Healtheries baking mix)
- ½ teaspoon pēkana paura (baking powder)
- ½ teaspoon pēkana houra (baking soda)
Chocolate Buttercream - Pani Reka Tiakarete
- 150 g tiakarete parauri (dark chocolate, 50%)
- 3 tablespoon kirīmi, miraka rānei (cream or milk)
- 180 g pata kūteretere (softened butter)
- ⅔ C (110 g) puehu huka (icing sugar)
- 2 teaspoon wanira (vanilla)
- ¼ C (25 g) kōkō (cocoa, dutch is best)
The Decorations - Ngā Whakarākei
- ⅔ C (190 g) pata hānati tiakarete (chocolate hazelnut spread). I used a good quality one but use what you prefer.
- 425 g kēna poihanapere (can of boysenberries, in syrup)
- 10 rahipere (raspberries, fresh)
- 8 parakipere (blackberries)
- A handful of hānati nakunaku (crushed hazelnuts, optional)
Instructions
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - Keke Tiakarete me te Hānati
- Note: If you want a more pronounced hānati (hazelnut) flavour in this keke (cake), toast the hānati (hazelnuts) before making the batter. Add the whole nuts in to a dry frying pan and over medium heat, toast the nuts until fragrant. Once they are toasted, add them to a tea towel and rub off the skins. Allow them to cool as you make the cake batter.
- Preheat the oven to 150 °C.Grease and line 2 x 19 cm or 20 cm cake tins with baking paper on the base and sides.
- Combine the miraka (milk) and winika (vinegar) in a glass. Stir to create a simple buttermilk. Leave to the side.
- To a jug or medium bowl, add the kōkō (cocoa), huka hāura (brown sugar), tote (salt) and paura kawhe (coffee powder). Mix it up.
- Boil the jug and pour the wai wera (hot water) in to the cocoa mix. Stir it. Once the ranunga kōkō (cocoa mixture) is smooth and free of lumps, pour in the miraka pata (buttermilk) and stir it in. Leave to the side.
- In to a large bowl, add the hēki (eggs), huka one (caster sugar) and wanira (vanilla). Using a whisk, whip for a minute or so until smooth.
- Slowly drizzle in the noni (oil) as you whisk it in to a smooth batter. Continue whisking as you pour in the cocoa mixture.
- Add the hānati (hazelnuts) in to a blender and turn them in to a crumb, be careful not to take them too far as they will start to turn in to hazelnut butter. Just pulse until a crumb forms. Reference the video for a visual cue.
- Add the kongakonga hānati (hazelnut crumb) in to the main mixture along with puehu parāoa kore-wīti (gluten-free flour mix), pēkana paura (baking powder) and pēkana houra (baking soda).Whisk it all together for a minute or so until the batter is smooth.
- Divide it evenly between the two prepared cake tins.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until they spring back in the centre when pressed.
- Remove the cakes from the oven. Flip them straight on to a cooling rack as this helps them stay flat so you don't have to trim the cakes. Leave the baking paper on the cakes until you are ready to decorate them.Allow them to completely cool before decorating.
- Note: If you want to inject even more moisture into the keke (cake). Once the cakes are baked, poke holes all over them with a chopstick. Then drizzle over 4 tablespoons of the juice from the canned poihanapere (boysenberries) on to each cake. Allow to cool in the tin to soak up the juices and continue on with the recipe.
Chocolate Buttercream - Pani Reka Tiakarete
- Chop the tiakarete parauri (dark chocolate) roughly in to chunks. Add the tiakarete parauri (dark chocolate) and kirīmi (cream) or miraka (milk) to a small bowl.
- Gently melt it in the microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring well between each time. This should take a minute or just over. You can also melt it gently in a heat-proof bowl that is sitting over a pot of barely simmering water (around 3cm deep). Make sure the bowl is not touching the water. Stir it occasionally until it is melted.
- Once smooth and melted, leave the tiakarete (chocolate) to cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the pata kūteretere (softened butter), puehu huka (icing sugar) and wanira (vanilla) to a large bowl. Whip until light and fluffy for around 4-5 minutes.
- Add the kōkō (cocoa) and whip it for 30 seconds. Add the warm chocolate mixture, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture as you whip continuously.
- Once it is all incorporated, refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes to thicken slightly and then it is ready to use.
The Decorations - Ngā Whakarākei
- Once the cakes are completely cool and the pani reka (buttercream) is ready to go, it is time to assemble.
- Place the first cake on to a serving plate or cake stand. Add around ⅓ C of the pani reka (buttercream and spread it over the top of the keke (cake). Once smooth, pipe on a boarder around the edge. If you don't have a piping bag, just add small blobs of buttercream around the edge of the cake and use a spoon to create a border. This helps keep the filling in.
- Add the pata hānati tiakarete (chocolate hazelnut spread) and spread it out to the edges of the border that you created.
- Drain the juice off the poihanapere (boysenberries) and add the berries on to the pata hānati tiakarete (chocolate hazelnut spread). I use around ¾ C of berries.
- Add the second keke (cake) on top and press it down gently. Continue to spread the pani reka (buttercream) on top of the keke (cake) and down the sides. Make sure to take the time to smooth it out. Pipe around ¼ C of the buttercream on top of the cake in whatever fashion you want.
- Add the rahipere (raspberries) around the top of the cake. Cut the parakipere (blackberries) in half and arrange them in between the rahipere (raspberries). As an option, sprinkle with a handful of extra kongakonga hānati (hazelnut crumb).
- This cake will keep will in a sealed container for a few days. Do not add the berries until the day you are planning on serving the cake. I don't like to keep my keke (cakes) in the pouaka mātao (refrigerator) but if you do, make sure you remove the cake from the fridge an hour before serving to give it time to come back to room temperature.
Mary Allen
Kia ora Naomi
I’ve just discovered your insta page through a friend, our Minister at church.
I’ve received your gluten free chocolate hazelnut keke recipe & can’t wait to try baking it!
Just a minor (but significant point for celiacs): in the ingredients, first vinegar, one needs to be mindful that celiacs can’t eat malt vinegar. So any vinegar except malt.
Nga mihi,
Arohanui
Mary xx
Naomi Toilalo WhānauKai
Amazing Mary, how wonderful to hear. Thank you so much for that feedback on the malt vinegar, that is definitely news to me so is very welcomed. I hope you enjoy the recipe. I also have gluten free and dairy free orange cake on here that you might enjoy. Ngā mihi nui, Naomi