In my former life, if you wanted to curry favour with me you would buy me Ferrero Rochers. That chocolate and hazelnut combination just trips my switch and it’s one of my favourite combinations still. It was my birthday recently and I thought what better excuse to pull out the big guns and make a truly spectacular cake?
This recipe is based on an old olive oil cake that I loved making, so I re-invented it, keto-style. I’m not going to lie, there is some effort involved, but LOOK at the end result!
A few notes: I used a combination of almond and hazelnut flours. Don’t be tempted to increase the hazelnut flour though. While the right amount will give it a Nutella-like flavour, too much hazelnut flour would increase the carbs and even give your cake a bitter taste. Also, most of the bitterness comes from the peel so make sure to use hazelnut meal from peeled hazelnuts.
Don’t use extra virgin olive oil, not only is it expensive, the flavour is too strong for this recipe. Use a mild tasting olive oil instead.
Whipping the ganache for the frosting makes it easier to spread and also increases the mass of the ganache, so you don’t need to use as much.
And I know that you’re looking at the serving size and thinking 1/16th of a cake? That’s just a crumb! Nope. I love chocolate and I love cake and I could barely make it through a slice.
This cake is intense and rich and all of the good things in the world, and 1/16th is more than enough. Enjoy!
Preparation timeHands-on: 1 hour 15 minutes Overall: 1 day
| Total Carbs | 12.9 | grams |
| Fiber | 5.6 | grams |
| Net Carbs | 7.3 | grams |
| Protein | 9.5 | grams |
| Fat | 51.1 | grams |
| of which Saturated | 14.9 | grams |
| Energy | 517 | kcal |
| Magnesium | 124 | mg (31% RDA) |
| Potassium | 403 | mg (20% EMR) |
Macronutrient ratio: Calories from carbs (6%), protein (7%), fat (87%)
Ingredients (makes 16 servings) Cake:- 2 cups almond flour (200 g/ 7.1 oz)
- 1 1/3 cups ground hazelnuts (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 cups raw cacao powder or Dutch process cocoa powder (108 g/ 3.9 oz)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mild olive oil or melted ghee or virgin coconut oil (360 ml/ 12 fl oz)
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar-free vanilla extract (20 ml)
- 1 cup boiling water (240 ml/ 8 fl oz)
- 2 cups granulated Swerve or Erythritol (400 g/ 14.1 oz)
- 3 bars 90% dark chocolate, or minimum 85% (300 g/ 10.6 oz)
- 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream or coconut cream (300 ml/ 10.1 fl oz)
- Day One: Make the cake base. Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Heat cream on stove until just barely simmering. Then, pour hot cream over chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. (Don’t then drop your kitchen timer into the ganache like I did). Whisk until smooth. Pour about a 1/3 of the ganache into a separate bowl and sit both bowls on the counter at room temperature to set overnight.
- Preheat oven to 170 °C/ 340 °F. Grease your cake tins with a little oil and line the base and sides with baking paper.
I used a set of two 20 x 5 cm (8 inch x 2 inch) sandwich cake pans, measuring but you could also use standard 20 cm (8 inch) springform tins. This recipe makes two cakes, so don’t pour the entire mixture into one tin. - Put the almond flour and ground hazelnuts into a mixing bowl, along with the baking soda and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Pour the boiling water into a heatproof jug and add the cacao powder and vanilla extract (reserve about 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder for coating the truffles). Whisk until it forms a smooth paste and then sit it aside to cool.
- To the bowl of your stand mixer, put the Swerve, olive oil and eggs. Beat until it is pale yellow and slightly thickened. Add the cocoa paste mixture to the olive oil mix, beating slowly as you go.
- When it is all combined, add the dry ingredients (mixed almond flour, ground hazelnuts and baking soda). Pour the cake batter into the prepared tins.
- Bake for approx. 45 minutes, depending on the cake tin that you used. A skewer inserted into the centre will come out with just a bit of moist cake on it. Remove from oven and cool on cake racks.
- Day Two: Decorate the cake. Take the smaller bowl a 1/3 of the ganache that you prepared on Day One. Using a teaspoon or melon baller, scoop different sized balls out and roll them with your hands. Chill on a plate in the fridge until ready to use.
- Keep about a 1/4 of the ganache mixture in the smaller bowl to melt for your drip decoration (for final decoration on top of the cake).
- Take the larger bowl of ganache, scrape it into your mixer bowl and beat it until it is light and fluffy, like frosting. (You may need to lick the beaters, it’s okay I won’t judge you!)
- Get a cake platter or decorating turntable out and put a smear of ganache frosting in the centre to hold the cake in place.
- Very carefully, cut each cake evenly in two. Starting and ending with cake, layer cake and frosting filling.
- Carefully spread the balance of the whipped ganache around the outside of the cake. I like to leave it a bit patchy towards the bottom, but that’s my personal taste. You can make little piped balls of this whipped ganache for decoration, if you have any left over. Place the frosted cake in the fridge for an hour until it is chilled.
- Heat the reserved ganache gently in the microwave until it is just liquid and very gently spoon it on top of the cake until it runs down the sides in a series of drips. Place cake back in fridge for another hour until ganache has re-set.
- Decorate with the chocolate ganache balls that you chilled in the fridge, rolling some in the remaining cocoa powder.
- Stand back and bask in the beauty of this cake 😊
- Slice and serve!
Store in the refrigerator for up to one week. 
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