This amazing cake is served at Lucques in West Hollywood, Calif., It’s a bit crunchy and rich with toasted hazelnuts and brown butter but remarkably light and meringuelike. Roxana Jullapat, Lucques’ pastry chef, sprinkles “fleur de sel” or sea salt on top and adds a scoop of caramel ice cream to each serving. Total time to make: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Lucques’ hazelnut brown butter cake
12tablespoons butter
1vanilla bean
5ounces blanched hazelnuts, toasted
11/3cups powdered sugar
1/3cup flour
5egg whites
1/4cup granulated sugar
Fleur de sel
Caramel ice cream
Place an 8-inch skillet on low heat and add the butter. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape the seeds out; add the seeds and bean to the butter. When the butter turns a golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, remove from the heat. Remove the seeds and pod and scrape the butter into a bowl to cool.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10-inch cake pan with nonstick spray, and line it with parchment paper. Grind the hazelnuts with the powdered sugar in a food processor.
Place the ground nuts in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and stir until well combined.
Beat the egg whites and granulated sugar to stiff peaks using an electric mixer. Fold the whites into the nut mixture. Fold in the room-temperature brown butter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the edge and unmold onto a serving platter. Sprinkle each serving of cake with a little sea salt. Accompany with a scoop of caramel ice cream. Serves 10.
Each serving: 316 calories; 4 grams protein; 27 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 23 grams fat; 23 grams saturated fat; 37 milligrams cholesterol; 30 milligrams sodium.
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