Eggless Coffee and Hazelnut Cake

This eggless coffee and hazelnut cake is a delightful fusion of rich coffee and nutty hazelnut flavor. The finely ground hazelnuts add a luscious nuttiness to the cake, complementing the robust notes of freshly brewed coffee. With a tender crumb and a subtle hint of sweetness, this eggless creation is not only a treat for the taste buds but also a celebration of textures.

The absence of eggs is seamlessly compensated by the use of condensed milk which makes this cake a little dense with an extremely soft crumb. Frosted with a simple coffee buttercream, and soaked in a coffee syrup this cake enhances the overall coffee experience, it is a wonderful addition to any occasion or a delightful companion to your afternoon coffee break. This cake has an element of surprise in it in the form of hazelnut praline which is sprinkled in the center before the cakes are sandwiched, there is hazelnut flour in the cakes sponges making it a great coffee and hazelnut experience. It’s easy to make too and you won’t be bogged down with this cake all day. It’s one of the best cakes I have ever tasted or made.

I love how the nuttiness of the hazelnut comes through in this cake, there is hazelnut flour in the batter and then crunchy hazelnut praline sprinkled between the layers, what’s not to love, the coffee syrup is sprinkled on the sponges, so they become nice and soft and then the praline, this eggless coffee and hazelnut cake is a treat for the dessert lovers.

Elements of the eggless coffee and hazelnut cake

The eggless sponge: made with all-purpose flour and hazelnut flour, the sponge is incredibly delicious, slightly dense with a light crumb. It’s an easy recipe and requires no work as such. Make the hazelnut flour at home by first roasting the hazelnuts and then dumping them in a food processor or a dry grinder and grinding till its powder don’t overdo the grinding as the hazelnuts would release their natural oils, you would have made hazelnut butter instead of hazelnut powder, which is good too, but we don’t need hazelnut butter in this recipe. Also let the hazelnuts cool after you pull them out of the oven.

The Coffee Soak: just coffee and sugar mixed in hot water and then sprinkled on the cake bases to keep them nice and moist.

The Hazelnut Praline: to enhance the flavor of the cake by using praline in the filling.

Coffee Buttercream: the best coffee buttercream ever. Easy to make and easy to eat.

Can we talk eggless?

A lot of people wonder how they can create an eggless cake which is as good as an egg one, I have a whole blog dedicated to this here is the link Egg Substitutes for Baking . The best egg substitutes for baking depend on what you are baking if you are baking cakes, I generally like using condensed milk or yogurt activated with baking soda. The sponge in this eggless coffee and hazelnut cake has been made with condensed milk as an egg substitute and its delicious, slightly dense but oh! boy the crumb is soft. Infact a lot of people avoid using condensed milk in baked products, but I believe everything used/eaten in moderation is the key. Condensed Milk is high in moisture so when you bake a cake with it the cake won’t dry up or become too crumbly, the moisture in the condensed milk balances the dry wet ratio. It is a sweetener as well as a binder. Of course, condensed milk sweetens the cake, but it’s also a binder as it holds all the ingredients together contributing highly to binding the cake.

Can we talk Coffee?

This cake is for coffee lovers, if you love coffee, you will love this, simply because this cake is a marriage between hazelnut and coffee which is a classic combination. But the coffee doesn’t overpower the hazelnut flavor nor does the hazelnut overpower the coffee, it is a beautiful balance of flavors, taste and texture. I have used instant coffee granules and they have worked well in this cake.

F for Frosting ?

This eggless cake has an amazing coffee frosting which is delicious. You need to be careful about a few things firstly the icing sugar has to be sifted as a lumpy icing sugar is something that is totally wrong for icing and may make your final buttercream frosting too sweet or with tiny lumps. To avoid that sift it, will take an extra 5 minutes maybe even 10 but totally worth it. Secondly, make sure the butter is soft and not melted because that would completely ruin your frosting, use soft butter and you will a dreamy smooth buttercream, Thirdly, the coffee as to be sprinkled little by little in the frosting as too much coffee liquid could make your buttercream a coffee puddle which is what you don’t want, so be careful when you add your liquids to the buttercream add a teaspoon at a time for best results. Fourthly, don’t overwhip your buttercream because when you overwhip your buttercream you add too much air in it and the buttercream has air pockets in it which makes it difficult to frost. Take it easy and enjoy the process.