Ingredients portion 8
Wheat flour 45 g
Sugar 445 g
Hazelnut 145 g
Ground vanilla 3 g
Egg white 204 g
Chicken egg 1 piece
Milk 139ml
Butter 228 g
Cognac 4g
Cocoa powder 9g
Cooking instructions 3 hours 10 minutes + 12 hours
1 Chop the nuts, not into dust but into a fine-medium crumble. Mix the nuts, 45 grams of flour, 190 grams of sugar and the ground vanilla with a spatula.
2 Separately beat 204 grams of egg whites, gradually adding 47 grams of sugar. It is advisable to leave the whites at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours before whipping, but you don’t need to do this if you don’t have time. Beat at a medium speed, about three-quarters of the maximum speed of the mixer, for 5 minutes. Towards the end, when the mixture is homogenous, you can increase the speed a little. The correct protein foam should not drip off the spatula, but stand with a beak.
3 Carefully pour half of the dry ingredients mixture into the whisked whites and mix with a silicone spatula from bottom to top. Then add the other half and mix again until the mixture is completely homogenous. Mix quickly and as effectively as possible, from the bottom upwards. Never stir the mixture like soup or tea!
4 Divide the mixture into two portions, smooth it out with a spatula in 20 cm diameter moulds – not pressing down, but spreading in a circular motion. Do not make a big deal about whether the surface is flat or not. Bake at 150-160 degrees for 70 minutes. Then cool. During the winter, you can put the cakes on the balcony so that they will cool down sooner.
5 While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the Charlotte syrup. It is very simple: mix together 208 grams of sugar, 37 grams of eggs (about 1 egg), 139 grams of milk with a whisk. Lightly whisk, pour into a saucepan, bring to the boil and leave to boil over a low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. The syrup is ready when its temperature reaches 104-105 degrees. Chill the syrup in the refrigerator.
6 Take the cooled cakes out of the mould, use a cooking ring with a diameter of 18 cm and cut out the smaller cakes. You can leave one cake in the new mould as it is. Shred the leftovers to sprinkle over the cake at the end.
7 Beat the softened butter with the wire whisk or mixer until smooth. Add 225 grams of Charlotte syrup (this acts as sugar in the cream), 1 gram of ground vanilla and 2 grams of cognac. Beat until everything is a fluffy and smooth mixture.
8 Chocolate cream is made in the same way as normal butter cream. You need less of it. The proportions are as follows: 69 grams of butter, 106 grams of Charlotte syrup, 1 gram of vanilla, 2 grams of brandy and 9 grams of cocoa powder. Put both creams in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
9 Now for the fun part – assembling the cake. Spread almost all the buttercream on the first cake (it’s in a ring) and spread it evenly over the surface with a spatula. Leave about 10% of the cream. Turn the second cake over and place it on top of the cream, pressing lightly. The top of the cake is now facing the parchment, so the cake will be perfectly flat. Remove the ring. The cream layer is very thick, so be careful. Put the cake in the refrigerator for about 6 hours.
10 Take the chocolate cream and spread a thick layer around the edges and top of the cake. Leave about 20 per cent of the cream for decoration. Hold the crumbs in one hand and the cake in the other, gently press the cake into the palm of your hand as the crumbs adhere to the surface. Make sure the crumbs run slightly over the top of the cake, hiding the place where the surface joins the sides. With the crumb coating and sprinkles, the diameter of the cake returns to the original 20 cm.
11 Decorate the circumference of the cake with the remaining chocolate Charlotte cream. After that, you can fancy and decorate as you like. Recipe tip The ground vanilla can be replaced with vanilla essence or vanillin. 
