As you may or may not know (you will if you’ve read a few of my other recipes), one of my regular crew mates is dairy free. I’ll admit, I wasn’t thrilled at first. I love butter. I love cream. And I love everything they bring to a cake to make it effortlessly delicious.

Still, I enjoy a challenge, and I also want everyone on board to be able to enjoy something chocolatey while sitting on the rail, freezing their butts off. And here the dairy free chocolate and hazelnut cake was born.

I’d previously made my dairy-free brownies, and they’re a great chocolate fix, but I wanted to expand my repertoire with a proper cake. The trickiest part wasn’t the cake itself—it was the frosting. Transporting it to the boat is one thing, but creating a silky ganache without my usual go-tos of butter and cream took a bit of experimenting. Thankfully, I got there, and none of the dairy eaters were any the wiser.

A light brushing of Frangelico syrup gives the cake an extra boost of moisture and a subtle hazelnut flavour, but don’t let that put you off if you don’t have a bottle tucked away. A simple sugar syrup works just as well, or you can skip it altogether if you’re serving the cake on the day it’s made.

This cake won’t stay quite as moist for as many days as a traditional butter cake, but that’s a small trade-off. It’s lighter than a brownie, deeply chocolatey without being over the top, and packed with fragrant ground hazelnuts.

Dress it up on a fancy plate with a strong espresso or a small glass of Frangelico, or cut it into generous squares to keep cold, sugar-deprived sailors happy to keep them sustained for a day (or overnight) on the water. Either way, whether you’re dairy free or not, it’s the sort of cake you’ll happily come back to. I’ll just say my dairy-free crew mate is thoroughly enjoying this phase. If you are looking for a non-chocolate dairy free cake, try my Dairy free lime and coconut cake or Dairy Free Lemon & Almond Cake.

Worth making?

Yes – if you’re looking for a dairy-free cake that stands up admirably to its dairy counterpart
Yes – because the chocolate and hazelnut combination is rich without being as heavy as a brownie
Yes – if you want a cake that’s just as at home on a dessert table as it is packed up for a weekend away
Skip it – if you’re after an intensely fudgy, ultra-rich chocolate cake
Skip it – if you need a cake that will stay perfectly moist for nearly a week. This one is at its best in the first couple of days
Skip it – if you don’t like hazelnuts, this one is chocolatey but definitely still tastes of hazelnuts

Ingredients

3 large Eggs separated
180 grams castor sugar
90 ml neutral oil (vegetable oil)
150 grams plain flour
80 grams hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
20 grams Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
75 grams good quality dairy free dark chocolate, melted and room temperature
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Frosting

180 grams dairy free chocolate
60 grams dairy free butter
50 ml espresso
2 tb frangelico syrup

Frangelico Syrup

100 grams water
100 grams sugar
2 Tb Frangelico or hazlenut liqueur

Instructions

Heat oven to 170°C fan (190°C conventional). Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin.
Whisk egg whites to soft peaks.In another bowl whisk yolks and sugar for 3-4 minutes until pale and thick.
Slowly whisk in oil, almond milk, vanilla, melted chocolate and vinegar.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.Fold dry ingredients and hazelnut meal into the wet mixture.
Fold one-third of the egg whites through to lighten the batter, then gently fold in the remainder.Bake 35-40 minutes, until the centre springs back.
If using Frangelico syrup, coat cake while still warm with the syrup reserving 1 to 2 Tb for the frosting.
Frost cake with chocolate frosting and serve as is or with a glass of Frangelico to fully elevate the flavour profile.

Chocolate Frostinig

Place chocolate (roughly chopped) and dairy free butter into a microwave safe bowl and microwave until just melted.
Stir in espresso and frangelico syrup

Frangelico Syrup

Heat sugar and water together in small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook just until the sugar is fully dissolved. Stir in Frangelico

Make it your own way

Swap the Frangelico syrup for a simple vanilla syrup
Replace the hazelnuts with almond meal for a less intense flavour or if you simply don’t like hazelnuts
Add the zest of an orange to the batter for a chocolate-orange twist
Top with fresh raspberries, toasted hazelnuts or a sprinkle of flaky sea salt instead of decorating with frosting, if eating on the day
Turn it into a layer cake by doubling the espresso ganache and sandwiching the layers together. It’s perfect for birthdays or celebrations

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