Hazelnut Carob Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°c

The process is quite easy, sift all dry ingredients. Whisk all wet ingredients in a bowl.

Then you pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix them well.

It is crucial to sift rice flour, rice starch and carob powder to get it all loose, add cinnamon, baking powder and fine sea salt into a bowl and with a whisk, mix well and set aside.

Mix coconut oil, maple syrup, hazelnut milk, liquid agar-agar into a bowl and mix well to a homogenous liquid.

Pour all the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and whisk it until you have a nice smooth batter mixture.

Spread a thin layer of oil, and dust two 8” or 20 cm cake pans with flour on the bottom and sides this will prevent the cake from sticking after it is cooked. You can also use vegetable or parchment paper, cut out a circle and place it on the bottom.

Pour one-half batter into one pan the other one-half into another pan. Place the two pans on the centre rack in the oven and bake for 45 minutes until cooked thoroughly.

You can test the cake is ready by piercing the cake with a skewer in the centre to see that it does not leave any traces of batter sticking to the skewer.

Once the skewer comes out clean means the cake is ready if not, it's still wet inside; You can continue to bake for an additional 7-8 minutes and check again.

Once the cake is made, remove it from the oven and let it cool in the pan. 10-15 minutes later you can use a small frosting spatula or thin knife to loosen the sides.

Place a wire rack on a table and flip the cake pan upside down on the wire rack to finish cooling. Now you have two lovely cakes to be used one on top of the other with a layer of coconut cream in the middle.

How to make coconut cream filling.

Mix hazelnut butter, coconut cream, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Coconut milk can naturally separate into cream, and it's coconut water when it sits for a long time on the shelf. Shake it well before you open the can.

Melt agar-agar in regular water.

Mix the agar liquid, coconut cream and ginger juice in a saucepot. Bring to a simmer for 1 or 2 minutes until everything is smooth. Agar-agar is seaweed is a natural thickener or gelling agent.

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of an 8” round cake pan and place it in the bottom. Pour the coconut cream filling into an 8”/ 20cm cake pan and freeze for 10 to 15 minutes.

Layer the cake

When the cake is cooled sufficiently make sure that your cake has no hump, if so use a cake leveller knife to level it or use a serrated bread knife to slice the hump off, so get a flat as possible base.

Place the 8” / 20cm cake pan with the coconut cream filling into a large pan of hot water for 1 minute. Place the thin knife in boiling water or use a frosting spatula and run it along the inner edge of the pan to free the coconut cream filling from the sides of the pan.

Flip the cake pan with the coconut cream onto the first layer of cake. Gently tap the pan if coconut cream filling does not come out. Then very gently peel off the vegetable or parchment paper.

Place the 2nd layer of cake, with the flattest side facing up on top of the coconut cream filling.

Using a spatula, spread the rice or maples syrup on top of the cake and garnish with pine nuts or few roasted hazelnuts.

You can also serve this cake with coconut ice cream or a glass of hazelnut milk. Use desiccated coconut slightly browned in an oven as a garnish on top of the cake.