Chocolate and Hazelnut Brownie Cake

Be warned, this is wickedly rich – a chewy, chocolatey, nutty mixture sandwiched together with whipped cream. Great with hazelnuts but you can use other nuts like brazils, or even a mixture.

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Method

Place the chocolate and butter together in a large, heatproof bowl fitted over a saucepan of barely simmering water, and allow the chocolate to melt, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Then beat the mixture till smooth, remove it from the heat and simply stir in all the other ingredients till thoroughly blended.

Now spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf for 30 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin for 15 minutes to cool, then remove it from the tin, and turn it out on to a cooling tray. Strip off the lining paper and, when it's absolutely cold, carefully cut the cake in half, down the centre lengthways, so you're left with 2 oblongs. Now whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and spread half of it thickly along one half. Position the other half on top, then spread the rest of the cream all over the cake, covering it completely. Then decorate with the roughly chopped nuts and, if you like, a dusting of cocoa powder. If all the cake isn't eaten, to keep it fresh, store inside a polythene container in the fridge.