Nut Cake with Honey Glaze

Hazelnuts are used here, but you can use any nut

Such a hypocrite right?  On the one hand posting about health and fitness and then the next minute posting a recipe for cake!  Sorry.  But I do have a sweet tooth.

This recipe works just as well with any nut—peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pecans, even chestnuts. If you use almonds or chestnuts, you can also swap some of the flour for almond flour or chestnut flour (not more than half), but if you do, add another egg.

• 1 cup skinned hazelnuts, toasted in a 350˚F oven for 5 minutes
• 1 ¼ cups  unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
• 10 tbsps unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup hazelnut butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup of honey
• Juice of ½ a lemon

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/175°C.  Grease a 20cm bundt pan with a generous quantity of butter, then flour, before shaking out the excess.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the hazelnuts and ¼ cup of the flour until the nuts are finely ground.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until very light.  Beat in the hazelnut butter, then add the eggs one at a time.  Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and beat in the vanilla extract.  In a small bowl, mix together the nut and flour mixture, the remaining cup of flour, salt, and baking powder.  Beat the dry ingredients into the batter.

Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back lightly when touched and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then gently remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate.  Heat the honey with the lemon juice and stir to mix.  Heat until runny, but without cooking it.  Drizzle evenly over the cake.  Serves 8.