Bidmead Bites

Eat, drink and explore with Eve Bidmead

Navigation
  • About me
  • Food for thought
  • Recipes
  • Contact

Hazelnut fruit cake recipe – Ottolenghi inspired

2nd May 2020 by Eve Bidmead Leave a Comment

The words “Ottolenghi” and “simple” normally don’t go together. Yotam Ottolenghi is well aware of his fame for complicated recipes and hard to source ingredients (as he put it himself in his Guardian column: “I’ve heard the jokes…the one about “just popping out to the local shop to buy the papers, milk, black garlic and sumac”).

He is also a man who moves with the times and recognises peoples’ eternal struggle to find time to cook. This was the inspiration behind his newest cookbook Simple.

If you like Ottolenghi flavours but are put off by the faff, this is the book for you. It includes recipes with 10-or less ingredients, others you can make-ahead of serving, as well as quick meals you can have on the table in under 30 minutes. Within Simple lies one of my favourite cake recipes of all time – a hazelnut sponge with peaches and raspberries.

I’ve tweaked the recipe to give you more options for alternative ingredients because the whole world and his dog are baking at the minute and you’re lucky if you can snag up a bag of flour these days; you can flex this recipe based on what you have to hand.

I also reduced the sugar from 320 to 260 grams – not because I want to make this in any way a “healthy bake” (I think life is way too short for that nonsense). I love the tartness the fruit can provide and don’t want to dim the gloriously nutty richness of the hazelnuts by making the batter overly sweet. It worked really well and I recommend you go for this amount of sugar too.

A note on the fruit: the original recipe calls for 2 large peaches sliced into 1.5 cm wedges + 150 grams raspberries. You could sub apples, plums, apricots, pears…just think, the harder the fruit, the smaller your slices will need to be. For the berries you can use blueberries, strawberries or blackberries, and these can even be frozen. We’re flexing here, but the concept is the same: hazelnut + fruit = winning combo.

Hazelnut + fruits of your choice cake – an Ottolenghi adaptation

Ingredients

  • 450 grams of fruit (I used rhuburb and plum and it was cracking)
  • 260 grams sugar (original recipe calls for white caster, I used golden – either works)
  • 125g hazelnuts (skin off – try to buy them like this as otherwise it’s a bit of a faff, but see here on how to remove the skins if needed)
  • 200 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 125 grams plain flour ( if you only have self-raising, half the amount of baking powder)
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • Tiny pinch of salt

Method

  1. Turn oven to 170 degrees and line a 24cm round cake tin
  2. Mix your fruits with 1 tbsp of sugar and set aside
  3. Grind hazelnuts in a food processor and once roughly ground (under a minute) mix with flour, baking powder and salt in seperate bowl
  4. Beat sugar into the butter – easiest if you use a form of electric whisk
  5. Gradually add eggs to butter mix and then add in your flour hazelnut mix
  6. Pour batter into lined cake tin and place your fruit on top
  7. Bake for 70-80 minutes but cover cake with tin foil after half an hour to avoid it overly browning on top

Ottolenghi says this will keep for a day but I found it perfectly edible after three. In fact, I think the hazelnut flavour got richer over time, so if you do for whatever reason have some left after a day or two, don’t despair.

And then you’re done – enjoy with a cup of tea and Netflix

Filed Under: cake, dessert, easy recipe, ottolenghi, recipe Tagged With: baking, cake, hazelnut cake, ottolenghi, recipe, simple recipe

Welcome!

Let’s be social

BidmeadBites on Instagram

bidmeadbites

Being sun safe whilst working at the vineyard ☀️🍷🍇 #masvincenç #nosfuimosparaelcampo
Hazelnut fruit cake adapted from Ottolenghi’s Si Hazelnut fruit cake adapted from Ottolenghi’s Simple; one of my favourite ever bakes. Recipe now on the blog, link in bio. 🍰🌰🍑#hazelnutcake #ottolenghisimple #bidmeadbakes
From fried pork belly to vegan miso aubergine beca From fried pork belly to vegan miso aubergine because I think that’s what they call balance. First time using aubergine emoji in proper context 🍆 #greenroastingtin #misoaubergine
Arepas con chicharrón - recipe on the blog, link Arepas con chicharrón - recipe on the blog, link in bio. Really easy to make and can be paired with loads of other things!🇨🇴👩🏻‍🍳🥓#colombianrecipes #chicharron #arepas #enbarranquillamequedo
Barranquilla carnival with @yorecomiendobaq, proba Barranquilla carnival with @yorecomiendobaq, probably hunting down some sanchoco de guandul 🇨🇴🇬🇧❤️#takemeback #carnavaldebarranquilla #sancochodeguandul
Pollo alla puttanesca (or something like that) wit Pollo alla puttanesca (or something like that) with chicken in black olive tapenade and other delicious savoury things. 🐓🍗🥦#winnerwinnerchickendinner #chickentraybake
BidmeadBites returns with a new blog post on the w BidmeadBites returns with a new blog post on the world famous 3-ingredient pasta sauce. A cracking store cupboard recipe for these “unprecedented times we are living in”. The link is my bio, enjoy! 🍝🍅#marcellahazantomatosauce #pastasauce #coronacooking
Rhubarb and raspberry crumble cake because it’s Rhubarb and raspberry crumble cake because it’s a great time to get back to baking 👍🍰#dianahenry #bidmeadbakes
Spending my quarantine chocolate tasting 🍫 #ton Spending my quarantine chocolate tasting 🍫 #tonyschocolonely
Istanbul’s Gran Bazaar - intense haggling over r Istanbul’s Gran Bazaar - intense haggling over rings, spices and crockery in preparation for book deal negotiations #fellowshipistanbul #granbazaar #turkishspices 🇹🇷📚
While I was seriously evaluating the menu at @eata While I was seriously evaluating the menu at @eatalytorino, my dad was taking arty snaps on his phone. 🇮🇹🍝🥩#eatalytorino #iwanttoorderitall
Patagonia - rain, sun, mucho mate and lamb everyth Patagonia - rain, sun, mucho mate and lamb everything. 🏔🌲🌧🌞🐑🇦🇷 #barilocheargentina #villalangostura
Argentine pizza - too much cheese, too thick a bas Argentine pizza - too much cheese, too thick a base...yet I keep coming back. More so if there’s an empanada on the side 🍕🇦🇷#pizzaargentina #fugazzeta
Ceviche and crazy views in Villa Langostura 🏔🌲🐠🦑#villalangostura #miradorsocialclub
Getting my five a day serving of empanadas 😍❤ Getting my five a day serving of empanadas 😍❤️#empanadasargentinas #bariloche
Manejando la pari 💪🇦🇷🐄 Manejando la pari 💪🇦🇷🐄
Katsu sando - Japanese, Chinese & Korean flavours Katsu sando - Japanese, Chinese & Korean flavours mixed with Argentine meat is genius. 🇦🇷🥩#katsusando #niñogordobuenosaires
Liming down the islands with our very special brid Liming down the islands with our very special bride👰🏻🍈🌴🌊🇹🇹💃🏼 #downtheislands #sundaylime #dayafterthebachelorette
Bake & Shark - breaded shark in a fried doughy fla Bake & Shark - breaded shark in a fried doughy flatbread with all the fillings (no pepper sauce, as our friend advised “probably lay low on that 😌). 🦈🥯🌶🥑🥬🥒🇹🇹
Curry crab, dumpling and callaloo in Store Bay 🇹🇹🦀🌴#trinifood #tobagoeats #crownpoint
Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Hazelnut fruit cake recipe – Ottolenghi inspired
  • Arepas & Chicharrón recipe
  • The easiest tomato sauce you’ll ever make
  • Etles – a taste of Northern China in Walthamstow
  • El Obrero & Pizzería Güerrin – two Buenos Aires institutions

Browse posts by month

Search the site

Browse posts by category

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress