With Easter just around the corner, there’s no better time to try your hand at baking a chocolate dessert of some sort for the whole family to feast on. When it comes to chocolate cakes, it’s important to get a spongy texture that won’t quickly dry out, as there’s nothing worse than a slice of cake that instantly crumbles to pieces. Prue Leith’s recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake makes enough for 12 people to indulge in and uses one ingredient, which means you’re guaranteed a spongy cake that will keep moist for longer.
A condiment that you might usually pair with potatoes or use to add some flavour to a lunchtime sandwich, Prue adds mayonnaise to her recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake. Often used in savoury pairings, mayonnaise is also a great addition to baking, growing in popularity during World War II when eggs and dairy were rationed. Simply made from oil and egg yolks, when used in baking, it simply replaces the oil that’s traditionally used in chocolate cakes to give it a moist texture.
However, you might find that by using mayonnaise instead of oil, your cake will come out even more velvety thanks to the lecithin in the egg yolk. Lecithin is a naturally occurring fatty substance, which when mixed with flour, can make for a softer and moister cake. As mayonnaise is just oil and egg yolks combined, it doesn’t affect the taste either, but will help you avoid a crumbly cake.
Using a good quality cocoa powder will also ensure you achieve a rich, chocolatey .