Chocolate Nut Butter Cake

Luxurious, nutty, decadent, extra dark and chocolatey, this chocolate nut butter cake is what dreams are made of.

Hello HTS Community

This chocolate cake is my recipe of guilty pleasure, it is so decadent and moreish, that you’ll finish it in a single sitting. It is not a regular chocolate cake. The addition of nut butter in the cake and ganache makes it so rich and luxurious, that you can easily beat the so called ‘most expensive and best tasting’ cakes.

Designed for two people, this chocolate nut butter cake can be enjoyed on a birthday, anniversary, date night or just because you want to celebrate yourself. This cake will become your obsession.

The Ganache

I have been making chocolate cake with this recipe for years now, and it has been great. But this time, I decided to add a nutty profile with the addition of pistachio butter in the cake batter and ganache. It added a delicate flavour of pistachios, which tastes amazing with dark chocolate, and light notes of butter and nuttiness. You can use any other nut butter that is available in your pantry, sweetened or unsweetened. The sugar content in the cake will depend on the amount of sugar in the nut butter. Refer to the quantity below. Some other nut butters that can be used in the recipe are almond butter, walnut butter, peanut butter and hazelnut butter.

On top of the cake sits our rich dark chocolate and pistachio butter ganache, that adds a whole new dimension to the cake. I can bet that you will eat half of the ganache before actually putting it on the cake sponge. Decorate the cake with pistachio powder or fresh fruits fresh however you like it, and there it is, one super quality chocolate nut butter cake.

This recipe makes a small cake, and you can multiply it two or three times to bake a bigger one. To make a vegan cake, replace eggs with flax eggs (information below) and heavy cream with coconut cream.

Some other cake recipes that will make people fall in love with you are Tres Leches- Three Milks cake, Cheesecake with strawberry compote and Ravani- Greek orange syrup cake.

Ingredients for Chocolate Nut Butter Cake

• For sponge
  • All purpose flour- 1/2 cup
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder- 5 tablespoon
  • Baking Soda- 1/2 teaspoon
  • Egg- 1
  • Vegetable oil- 1/3 cup (any neutral tasting oil)
  • Brown sugar- 1/2 cup (reduce to 1/3 cup if using sweetened nut butter)
  • Heavy cream- 1/3 cup
  • Vinegar- 1 teaspoon
  • Vanilla extract- 1/2 teaspoon
  • Nut butter- 1 tablespoon (using pistachio butter in this recipe)
  • Instant coffee- 1 tablespoon
  • Salt- a pinch
  • Fresh orange juice- 2 tablespoon
• For ganache
  • Dark chocolate (>70% cocoa)- 1/2 cup, chopped
  • Heavy cream- 1/4 cup
  • Nut butter- 2 tablespoon
  • Salt- 1/4 teaspoon
  • Vanilla extract- 1/4 teaspoon

Egg substitute:

For each whole egg used, you can substitute it with one of the following:

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed+ 2 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup yogurt

Steps:

For sponge

• Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 6 inch round cake pan with parchment paper.

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg, sugar and oil until well combined and creamy in texture.

• Add vinegar to the heavy cream and give it a quick mix. This mixture goes in the bowl followed by vanilla extract.

• Time to add the nut butter of your choice to the cake. I’ve added pistachio butter in this recipe.

• Now add all the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, coffee and salt in the wet mixture to form a batter.

• Transfer batter to the baking tin and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees celsius or until a skewer poked in center comes out clean.

• Cool cake on a wire rack and pour orange juice evenly. Let the cake sit like that for another hour.

For nut butter ganache

• In a microwave safe bowl, combine dark chocolate, heavy cream and pistachio butter, and microwave for 20 seconds. Whisk to create a thick ganache. If the chocolate hasn’t melted, microwave for another 10 seconds. Add 2 tablespoon of powdered sugar if you’re using unsweetened nut butter.

• Add pistachio butter and vanilla extract and mix. Keep the ganache aside to cool down a bit. It will become a little thicker after cooling.

• If you do not have a microwave, melt chocolate and cream using a double boiler.

Cake Assembly

• Pour the chocolate ganache on top of the cake and garnish with pistachio powder or fresh fruits of your choice. Refrigerate for at-least an hour before serving.