Chocolate Espresso Coffee Cake
One 10” round cake (use a springform pan)
Espresso Crumble:
½ cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
½ cup all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into very small cubes
Coffee Cake:
3 ounces dark chocolate, chopped, melted and slightly cooled
3 Tbsp instant espresso powder
20 Tbsp (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 tsp hazelnut extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup Greek yogurt
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10” springform pan and line with parchment paper.
2) For the crumb: Toast, cool and coarsely chop the hazelnuts. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, espresso powder and salt. Add the hazelnuts and cubed butter. Use your fingers to work the mixture into a mixture resembling wet sand. Chill until ready to use.
3) Melt the 3 ounces dark chocolate and stir in the espresso powder. Set aside.
4) In a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla paste and hazelnut extract and mix to combine.
5) Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon. On low speed, add the flour and yogurt, alternating flour, yogurt, flour, yogurt and remaining flour. Divide the batter equally in half and fold the chocolate/espresso into one half.
6) Scoop, or spoon, the batter into the prepared pan. Alternate between the two batters. After all the batter is in the pan, use a butter knife to swirl the two batters. Top with the chilled crumble and bake for 70 to 75 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
7) Cool on a wire rack for thirty minutes. Release the springform and serve warm cut into generous slices.
