Wholesome gluten-free vegan layer cake with wonderful hazelnut flavor and luscious vegan hazelnut frosting fit for celebration.
Special thank you to Indigo Herbs for sponsoring this recipe.
Today I have a really special cake recipe for you, this dreamy Hazelnut Layer Cake is such a lovely moist wholesome cake with wonderful hazelnut flavor. Frosted with luscious vegan hazelnut frosting it’s an indulgent treat fit for a celebration.
Natural health products company Indigo Herbs have asked me to create a recipe using their hazelnut flour and I really wanted to create a cake highlighting the wonderful hazelnut flavor. Often hazelnut cake recipes are paired with chocolate but not this one, my cake is a celebration of the hazelnut and it comes through beautifully.
I’ve been a customer of Indigo Herbs for years and can honestly recommend their quality natural health products. In this recipe, I’ve used their hazelnut flour, buckwheat flour and hazelnut butter.
In the sponge cake I’ve used a generous amount of the hazelnut flour together with a combination of buckwheat and tapioca flours. To make it light and moist I’ve used flax eggs, a small amount of mashed banana and coconut oil. I’ve added little lemon zest as well, I find that it masks the banana coming through too strongly, but it’s optional.
For the wonderful vegan hazelnut frosting, I’ve adapted my cashew frosting with the addition of hazelnut butter and it works beautifully. It’s light, fluffy, lightly sweetened with maple syrup and really complements the flavors in the cake.
For the topping, I’ve roasted some hazelnuts and scattered them across the top with little dried cornflowers to add a touch of color. For the photoshoot, I’ve used a couple of roses as well and I think it makes it look rather romantic, what do you think?
It’s been such pleasure creating this cake, I hope you love the recipe!
Hazelnut Layer Cake (vegan & gluten-free)
Wholesome gluten-free vegan layer cake with wonderful hazelnut flavor and luscious vegan hazelnut frosting fit for celebration.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups hazelnut flour (150 grams)
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (70 grams)
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour (30 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar (100 grams)
- 1/2 lemon, zest (optional)
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 6 tablespoons water
- 1/3 cup mashed banana (80 ml)
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (80 ml)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (60 ml)
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Hazelnut frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups cashew nuts, soaked for at least 4 hours (200 grams)
- 3/4 cup coconut cream (180 ml)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (80 ml)
- 4 tablespoons hazelnut butter
Topping:
- roasted hazelnuts
- dried cornflowers
Instructions
- Mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 6tbsp water and set aside to thicken.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C)
- Grease and line the base and dust the sides of two 6" round cake baking tins.
- In a large bowl whisk together hazelnut flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in sugar and lemon zest and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together gelled flax eggs, mashed banana, melted coconut oil, almond milk (at room temperature) apple cider vinegar and vanilla.
- Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. You should have muffin consistency. Add little more milk if needed. Spoon the mixture evenly into your prepared tins and level out the surface. Bake for about 35 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Remove from the oven once ready and leave to cool down for 20 minutes before removing from the tins.
- Once the cakes are completely cool, you can frost the cake. Place the bottom layer onto a cake stand and spread with hazelnut frosting. Top with the second cake layer and frost the top and the sides of the cake.
- Decorate with chopped roasted hazelnuts and dried cornflowers.
Hazelnut frosting:
- Rinse the soaked cashews well under running water and place into high speed blender. Add coconut cream, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, pinch of salt and cinnamon and blend until smooth. Stop and scoop the sides of the blender as needed.
- As the ingredients start to warm up, the mix will loosen and becomes easier to blend. Add the melted coconut oil and hazelnut butter and blend until incorporated.
- Scoop the mix into a small bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- When you're ready to frost the cake, whip the mix for couple of minutes until fluffy. The texture will change as you whip. If the frosting doesn't get thick enough, place it into the freezer for 15 minutes and whisk again, repeat until you have desired consistency.
- Enjoy!
Notes
You can replace coconut oil with olive oil.
For the coconut cream use the thick part from the full fat coconut milk can refrigerated overnight. Sometimes you can also buy thick coconut cream or coconut cream for whipping.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 728Total Fat: 54gSaturated Fat: 23gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 28gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 425mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 5gSugar: 35gProtein: 10g
Hi there
Just wondering if you can freeze the layers until your ready to put the cake altogether?
PS Your cakes look divine. I’m thinking of making one for my daughters wedding.
Hi Carolyn, thank you. Yes, you can freeze them, but I would recommend using olive oil rather than coconut oil, it’ll keep the sponge lighter. Also if you’re making it for a wedding I think it would be best to make a sugar-based vegan buttercream with the addition of hazelnut butter, it will keep better at room temperature for longer period of time.
Hi Hana. Thank you so much for this beautiful creation! I made it for v-day for my husband. I made an agar-agar frosting with homemade hazelnut milk and hazelnut butter. Once it set, I blended it with a touch of rose water. It was really lovely. However, if I were to make the cake again, I would want to replace the buckwheat flour. I felt it left a bit of a bitter flavor that overwhelmed the sweet/nutty hazelnut flour. I was thinking that teff flour might be a nice substitution. What do you think? Equal part substitution?
Thank you!
Ginger
You’re so welcome Ginger! I’m so happy you loved it. I love the sound of the agar frosting, I’ve made one before with some maple butter but I can see how adding hazelnut butter would work so well too. Teff would make a great substitution for the buckwheat flour, it goes really well with hazelnuts. Just use equal amount. Love, Hana
Thanks for the response Hana. I will let you know how it goes. I think I am going to be making one of your chocolate creations today! And I need to check out your newest post…looks amazing. I am so glad that you are willing to share your talents. Please don’t stop! xo Ginger
Hi! I was wondering if there was any other replacement for the buckwheat flour as my mother is allergic to it and I don’t really like the flavor either, what would you recommend?? Other than teff flour. Thanks!!
Hi Lila, you could use any other gluten-free flours – brown rice, sorghum or oat would be the most neutral. Or a mix of any of these two would be great. Hope you like the cake :)
Oh, you’re the sweetest! Thank you! Much love Hana xx
Hi Hana, thank you for this beautiful recipe! This cake is delicious!
I’m planning to make it again but this time I have to make some fondant decoration. Can this frosting be covered with fondant? Thank you in advance for your answer!
You’re so welcome, I’m so happy you love this recipe. I have never tried this but I don’t see why not. As long as you keep it chilled I think it would be ok. However the sponge cake is more fragile than cake made with eggs and gluten, something to keep in mind. Alternatively you could cover it with jam?