Recipe: Coffee, chocolate and hazelnut sponge cake

Coffee, chocolate and hazelnut sponge. Photo / Babiche Martens

Makes 1 x 20 cm cake

5 eggs
160g caster sugar
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 Tbs Dutch cocoa powder
60g hazelnuts, finely ground
2 tsp finely ground coffee
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
60g butter, melted

Filling
3 Tbs hazelnut paste, warmed
Whipped cream
Dutch cocoa powder to dust

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm cake tin. Dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

2 Using an electric mixer - whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale.

3 Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa then stir through the hazelnuts and coffee.

4 Gently fold through the egg mixture. Three quarters of the way through, add the vanilla and melted butter. Continue to fold very gently.

5 Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until set. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack.

6 Slice the sponge in half and spread the base with the hazelnut paste. Spread with whipped cream and then carefully place on the top layer, dusting generously with cocoa powder.