When we began testing our new bakeware, it was a no-brainer to enlist Camille Cogswell, friend of East Fork and owner/baker of Walnut Family Bakery in Marshall, North Carolina to lend her expertise. Camille was instrumental in testing our pie plate, offering useful feedback that helped us refine the design during R&D.
In addition to being one of our expert testers, Camille has shared her baking talents with us inside the East Fork Asheville flagship when we launched a Workshop line, and she developed a delicious Butternut Coffee Cake that should definitely find its way into your fall rotation.
More than that, Camille is a singular representation of the kind of good people that make us proud to call Western North Carolina home. Camille is an Asheville native, but left early to pursue her lauded culinary career (you can find her James Beard medal hanging in the bakery today). She returned to the region in 2021 and purchased a property in Marshall, known for its storied lineage of wood-fired bakers, and began building her own expression in the space, Walnut Family Bakery. On Saturdays, she serves a seasonal smorgasbord of wood-fired pastries, bread, cookies, pie, and cake. If you come to Asheville, you must make the pilgrimage.
Visit Walnut Family Bakery, 590 Barnard Rd, Marshall, NC, on Saturdays, 9-2pm. Follow @walnutfamilybakery on Instagram for the latest bakery updates.
Hazelnut Mocha Olive Oil Cake
By Camille Cogswell
Makes one 10” cake in the Shallow Baker
The hazelnut mocha cake is a riff on an evergreen olive oil cake in Camille’s bakery. With the addition of hazelnuts blitzed into a paste and a batter fortified with olive oil and deep cocoa flavor, this cake is like the cool older sister of Devil’s Food Cake. Topped with a chocolate ganache, toasted hazelnuts and fat crystals of Maldon, this cake feels decadent and is surprisingly dairy-free.
Note: Camille was the first person to blow my mind using decaf coffee in recipes instead of regular coffee, which adds desired coffee flavor, but doesn’t caffeinate people to the hilt. Why didn’t I think of that?
For the Cake:
- 1½ cups (215g) Hazelnuts, toasted - divided (can substitute almonds)
- 1½ cups (300g) Sugar
- ½ cup + 2T (124g) Olive Oil
- 2 ea Large Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Coffee Liqueur (optional)
- ⅔ cup (150g) Decaf Coffee, lukewarm
- ⅔ cup (150g) Non-dairy milk (oat, coconut, almond, rice, etc)
- 2 cup (240g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons (120g) Cocoa Powder, Dutch processed
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
For the Coffee Ganache:
- 1 tablespoon Corn Syrup
- 8 oz Dark Chocolate, 64-70%, chopped
- ½ cup (112g) Decaf Coffee, hot
To taste:
- Flaky Sea Salt
Make the cake:
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Lightly spray the 10” East Fork Shallow Baker dish with baking pan spray, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper cut to the same diameter, then lightly spray the parchment.
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Preheat your oven to 325℉.
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Put 106 g (¾ c) of the toasted hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor with all of the sugar. Chop or break up the rest of the hazelnuts into rough halves and pieces and set aside to garnish the finished cake.
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Turn on the food processor and buzz the mixture until it starts to turn pasty, about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Slowly stream the olive oil into the mixture while the machine is running. Scrape the hazelnut paste into a medium-sized bowl.
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Add the eggs, vanilla, coffee liqueur (if using), coffee, and non-dairy milk into the bowl with the hazelnut paste and whisk all together.
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Combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a slightly larger bowl.
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Pour ⅔ of the wet mixture into the dry and whisk together into a paste until no lumps remain. Whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients.
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Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
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Place the cake on the center rack of your oven and bake for about 45 - 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out without wet batter coating it.
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Place the cake dish on a rack and cool completely to room temperature.
Make the coffee ganache:
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Measure the corn syrup and chocolate into a small bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and let it sit untouched for 1 minute, then whisk the mixture together until smooth.
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Pour the ganache on top of the center of the cake and, with the back of a spoon or a small spatula, nudge it towards the edges of the cake, spreading it over the entire top. Sprinkle the reserved hazelnuts on top, as well as some flaky sea salt.
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You can serve the cake immediately or keep it covered at room temperature for up to 3 days and serve anytime. The ganache will firm up a little bit more over the first few hours.
