Hazelnut loaf cake

With a crunchy coffee glaze

You all know I love a loaf cake, and today’s recipe is one I’ve been teasing for far too long. It’s a hazelnut cake, a riff on my favorite lemon almond poppyseed loaf. Cakes made with almond paste have this special rich, slightly…chewy texture. That may seem an odd adjective for a cake, but I mean it in a positive sense; it really is my ideal loaf cake crumb.

Since my lemon loaf starts with a DIY almond paste situation, I started by simply swapping out the ground almonds for ground hazelnuts. While some grocery stores stock hazelnut flour, I prefer to roast and grind my own hazelnuts for peak freshness. Grinding the nuts with the icing sugar ensures that the hazelnuts won’t turn into hazelnut butter (delicious, but not what we want for this cake).

I played around with adding some orange zest (too strong, though admittedly I’m not a huge orange flavor fan so take that with a grain of salt) and chocolate (too sweet for a tea loaf situation). In the end, I preferred a loaf simply flavored with vanilla, a touch of almond, and some dark brown sugar to support that distinctive hazelnuttiness.

Oh, and the glaze: while a lemon soak worked magic on my lemon loaf, I didn’t love the effects of a soak on this version — it just sogged out the crumb. Instead, I went for a coffee sugar glaze, inspired by Flo Braker’s crystal glaze technique. This involves simply mixing granulated sugar with liquid (in this case, coffee) and brushing it onto the warm cake. As the loaf cools, the sugar crystallizes on the outside, and you’re left with a sparkly, crunchy crust. Such a fun trick to have up your sleeve!

One last thing — to get attractive square slices, I baked this loaf in my favorite 9x4x4 pullman pan, sans lid (if you’ve followed me for any length of time you’ll know this is one of my most used and loved pieces of bakeware). This loaf should also work in a standard 9x5 loaf pan. It will be too much batter for a smaller loaf pan; if your pan is smaller, either scale the recipe down or fill the pan no more than 75% and bake the remainder off as mini loaves or cupcakes. I also think this cake would probably work nicely in a 9” round, but have yet to try it. (Note that changing the pan size or shape will alter the bake time.)