Yes, you heard that right, chocolate, nuts, pancakes and caramel all in one, I cannot tell you how decadent this cake is. It took me about 2 hours to make but it’s completely worth it for the end result. For an even more spectacular result, double (or triple) the recipe for even more layers.
This cake was for my brother’s birthday, he asked for a triple chocolate fudge cake but personally, I think this is more impressive.
The praline is the perfect topping as not only does it contrast in colour, but also texture. Crispy, crunchy against the smooth, silky chocolate and slight chewiness of the pancakes.
To get the milk chocolate curls for the top I got a potato peeler and just ‘peeled’ the bar. The good thing about this is the chocolate melts on your hands, I’m certainly not complaining!
For younger tastebuds you could try using Nutella spread which would complement the hazelnuts on the top. In other news, man is it getting cold! It’s proper scarf, glove, coat, hat wearing weather here in England now. It’s certainly a shock to the system.
Ingredients:
For the Pancakes: 280g plain flour 400ml milk 4 eggs butter for frying For the Chocolate Sauce: 250g dark chocolate 50g butter 175ml whole milk 125ml double cream 50g light muscovado sugar For the Praline: 100g caster sugar 100g hazelnuts (blanched or unblanched) 2-3 tbspn water 1/2 tspn salt flakes sunflower oil For the Milk Chocolate Curls: 30g milk chocolate potato peeler To serve: whipped cream OR vanilla ice-cream Recipe (Adapted from BBC Good Food)… makes 1 cakeWhisk all the ingredients for the pancakes together in a bowl then set to one side. Make a bain-marie and put all the ingredients for the chocolate sauce into it. Stir continuously until everything has melted then place in the fridge for about 45-60 minutes until the mixture has gently set. Next, make the praline, for which place the hazelnuts into a sandwich bag, wrap in a tea towel and hit with a rolling pin to break into small pieces, then, oil a baking tray. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan on a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil until it turns into a dark, umber colour then quickly add the salt and hazelnuts. Quickly stir until everything is equally distributed then tip onto a baking tray and leave until it sets. Back to the pancake mixture…
Place a 5p amount of butter (each time) into a frying pan and leave to melt. Take one ladel full of mixture and pour into the frying pan and then tip the frying pan around so that the mixture is evenly spread. Brown the pancake on one side then flip to get the same consistent colour on the other side. When cooked, put on a plate. Once all the mixture is used up and you have a stack of pancakes you are ready to assemble the cake. Place a pancake on a plate and spread the chocolate mixture like butter, place another pancake on top and repeat this process until all the pancakes have been used up. For the top, spread the chocolate mixture on top then sprinkle the praline (break up with your hands first) and chocolate curls over the top. Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream
For an extra treat heat up in the microwave or oven for a couple of minutes.