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 Makes
2 cakes, 8" - 9"
Preheat oven to 350° F and grease
and flour cake pans. Finely chop toasted
hazelnuts in a food
processor and combine 1 cup chopped nuts with dry ingredients. Set
aside. Reserve remaining nuts for decorating the side of the cake.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside. Beat butter and sugar
with an electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg yolks and extracts.
Alternate adding milk, with dry ingredients, beating until just combined.
Fold
in 1/3 egg whites to lighten batter, then fold
in remaining egg white. Divide between the two prepared cake pans and
bake for about 30-35 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a cake
tester comes out clean. Cool pans on rack
for 10 minutes, then turn out on wire
rack to cool completely.
Frost and decorate with preserves and Cream Cheese/White Chocolate Icing
as follows: Split each cake in half, lengthwise, making two layers out
of each one. A long serrated knife makes quick work of this, or you can
even use a piece of dental floss as a saw to split the cake in half.
Follow link for icing recipe.
Place first layer, cut side down, on the cake plate and cover with a
layer of icing. Top this with a layer of raspberry preserves and top that
with the second cake layer. Frost tops and sides of cake. Press remaining
nuts onto sides of cakes with fingers. Leaving a 1/4" border on all edges,
top cake with a payer of raspberry preserves. Put remaining icing into
a pastry bag and pipe a decorative icing around top edge of cake. The
two photos show two decorating options. In the smaller photo, I used a
small plain round tip and simply piped a row of dots around the edge of
the cake. In the second photo I piped a shell border, then used a very
small round tip to pipe a freeform lace pattern in the red heart. I love
the final effect!
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