Chocolate Nutella and Hazel Nut Brownie Cake

We haven't spent much time together. You see, I've been busy and she is confused. Before, my world revolved around her. She would be the first thing I set my eyes on when I woke. Or rather, when she woke me up. And the last thing I checked on before I went to bed. Just to make sure she was still tucked under her blanket.

But recently her world has been turned topsy turvy, she is in a midst of a hurricane. She doesn't quite understand why. Why I'm always in a hurry? Why we don't go to the park EVERY day? Why I don't feed her EVERY meal time? Why I don't drop her to nursery anymore?

Why do we never mange to finish the story at bed time? Why don't we have play dates anymore? Why don't we spend hours playing in the bath nowadays? Why do I have to share my toys? 'Why' has been a prominent question in our home lately. Sometimes I have an answer, a lot of the times, I evade the question.

Whilst Maryam is loving being the big sister and having a young brother to cuddle, play with and experiment on (!), she hasn't been liking the fact that I cannot spend all my time with her. There just aren't that many hours in the day anymore. But I had a plan. A surprise to make it all better again, to make ir right, to make her happy. Like old times.

The first thing she asked when I had gotten back from hospital was, 'Mummy, can we make 'loodles' and carrot cupcakes?' So I knew baking had to be involved. I told her the night before that we would make a brownie cake for Valentine's. And a card for Papa. She was excited with a twinkle in her eye. 'I'll chop the nuts. And mix.'

And that's exactly what we did for Valentine's. I measured. She chopped, whisked and mixed. And tasted of course. That is always part of the plan.  Together, we baked and for a little while, there was a pause in the WHY. That is how we spent our Valentine's. Simple. But with a decadent treat. A chocolate brownie cake with hazel nuts and Nutella. It was gooey, fudgy and the perfect end to our dinner.

Chocolate Nutella and Hazel Nut Brownie Cake

Ingredients:

Brownie Cake

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup + 2 tbs dark chocolate, roughly chopped

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup hazel nut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup cocoa

Nutella Layer

1/2 cup Nutella spread

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped hazel nuts

Ganache Layer

1 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1 cup milk chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbs cream

1/8 cup butter, room temperature

Chopped hazel nuts to garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade and line a rectangular pan with baking paper. In a bowl set over a a pot of boiling water, melt the butter and chcolate until smooth (can use a microwave). In whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Add dry ingredients into the liquid mixture until just incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs. Refrigerate brownie cake after it has cooled.

In the mean time, mix all the ingredients of the Nutella layer. Spread over cooled brownie cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so or until it has set.

In the mean time, prepeare the ganache by melting all the ingredients in a bowl set over boiling water. Pour ganache over the set Nutella layer and immediately garnish with chopped hazel nuts. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or so to set the ganache layer.

Serve cold. Makes 18 pieces depending on pan size. Leave to cool out of the fridge for 5 minutes before slicing