Antonia is a 22-year old nutrition student currently doing an internship in Munich. She started her blog as a creative outlet where she could share her favorite recipes with her family and friends while studying in England. She shares recipes for everything from traditional Austrian dishes which she learned to cook from her grandparents and mother to everyday favorites. In addition to posting recipes she shares snippets from her daily life, documenting the food she eats along the way.

Chocolate Nut Cake

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Since the recipe for my mom’s birthday was requested in an earlier post and I sort of forgot to post it I wanted to share the recipe today…better late than never. This isn’t exactly a light summer cake but it’s one of our family favorites and it can never be too hot for chocolate and nuts.

We usually bake it using a baking sheet and then cut the cake into squares, but you can adapt the recipe to make it fit into a cake pan. My sister for instance used this {very simplified} recipe the last time she was here to bake my aunt’s birthday cake.

The most important ingredient, without a doubt is the chocolate. We like mixing dark chocolate in with milk chocolate but if you prefer just one or the other the result will be the same. Also, here in Austria we can’t buy chocolate chunks, just chips, and those will be too small and tend to melt. With bigger chunks you’ll actually have chocolate bits left in the finished product.

Chocolate Nut Cake

Ingredients:

• 300g butter, at room temperature
• 250g powdered sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla sugar
• 9 egg whites
• 9 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 300g ground hazelnuts (can be substituted with walnuts or almond if preferred)
• 180g all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. baking powder
• 300g chocolate, cut into chunks (the most delicious results are achieved if you use 150g milk chocolate and 150g dark chocolate)
• if needed: 3-4 tbsp. of milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 50g sugar, 1 tbsp. at a time. Continue to beat the egg whites until they are stiff.
3. In a separate bowl using your mixer, mix the powdered sugar and butter on high speed until the consistency is creamy. Add the egg yolks on at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the cinnamon, baking powder and 1 tbsp. of vanilla sugar.
5. When everything is light and creamy add the nuts, mix well. Then add the chocolate chunks and again mix for 20 seconds or until they are well incorporated.
6. Then using a spatula add the flour and fold it in with the batter.
7. Only at the very end when the batter is fully prepared fold in the egg whites. Be careful not to mix it too heavily otherwise the cake will not end up being light and fluffy. If necessary you can add a few tbsp. of milk before folding in the egg whites. This will make it easier to incorporate the eggs.
8. When you are all set transfer the batter onto a baking pan (40cm x 35 cm) lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely and then either sprinkle with powdered sugar or glaze with chocolate.