Hazelnut Torte With Strawberries Recipe

#An impressive three-layer castle of hazelnut pastry sandwiched with strawberries and whipped cream. A tart raspberry coulis is an ideal accompaniment.# Make the Hazelnut Pastry Dough: Heat the oven* to 180° C (350° F, Gas 4). Spread the hazelnuts on the baking sheet Toast until lightly browned, stirring occasionally so that the nuts color evenly, 8-10 minutes. While still hot, rub the nuts in the tea towel to remove the skins, then leave to cool. “Use rough-textured towel to rub skins from nuts.”

In the food processor, grind the hazelnuts with the caster sugar to a fine powder. A note from Eatopic: “If using a blender, grind the nuts and sugar in 2-3 batches”

Put the ground nut mixture on the work surface and sift the flour and salt on top. Make a well in the center of the ingredients and add the butter and egg yolk. “Butter is cut into cubes to make it easy to work.”

Using your fingertips, work the butter and egg yolk together in the well, drawing in a little of the ground nut and flour mixtures, until soft and thoroughly mixed. “Mix quickly – using your fingertips only for a light result.”

Draw in the nut and flour mixture with the pastry scraper, working them into the butter mixture with your fingers until combined. Press the dough into a ball.

Sprinkle the work surface lightly with flour; place the dough on the work surface and blend the dough by pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand. A note from Eatopic: The dough will be quite sticky.

Gather up the dough with the pastry scraper and continue to blend gently until it is very smooth in texture.

Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly, and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes. TAKE CARE: Pastry doughs made with nuts are particularly delicate. Be sure to give the dough enough time to chill. #Shape and Bake the Hazelnut Pastry Layers# Heat the oven to 200° C (400° F, Gas 6). Divide the chilled dough into 3 equal pieces. With the heel of your hand or the back of a spoon, press each piece into a 20 cm (8 inch) round on each baking sheet (Use the pan lid or an upturned cake tin as a guide.) “Using heel of hand keeps dough from being worked too much and becoming soft” A note from Eatopic:  “If your baking sheets are large, you can cook 2 pastry layers on one sheet, but space the rounds evenly, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) apart, because they will expand during baking.”

Bake the pastry layers in the heated oven until the edges begin to brown, 15-18 minutes. While they are still warm, trim them with the chef’s knife to neat rounds using the pan lid as a guide. TAKE CARE: Do not let the pastry cool before trimming or the rounds may break.

Using the chef’s knife, cut one of the pastry layers all the way across into 8 equal wedges. Let all the layers and the wedges cool to tepid on the baking sheets.

Using the palette knife, carefully transfer the pastry triangles and rounds from the baking sheets to the wire racks to cool completely. “Lay pastry flat on wire rack so it keeps its shape when cooled” A note from Eatopic: If the rounds stick, warm them on the baking sheets in the oven, 2-3 minutes, to loosen them from the sheets.” #Make the Coulis and Chantilly Cream; Assemble the Torte# To make the raspberry coulis, pick over the berries, then purée them in the food processor. Stir in icing sugar to taste, and the kirsch, if you like. Work the puree through the conical sieve to remove the pips.

Hull the strawberries, washing them only if they are dirty. Set aside 8 small berries for decoration. Halve the remaining strawberries, or quarter them if they are large. “Point of small knife lifts out hulls” TAKE CARE: Washing softens strawberries, so only wash them if absolutely necessary.

To make the Chantilly cream, pour the cream into a chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and continue whipping until the cream forms stiff peaks and the whisk leaves clear marks in the cream. Spoon about one-quarter of the cream into the piping bag.

Set one round of pastry on a serving plate. Cover with about one-quarter of the remaining Chantilly cream, and arrange half of the strawberries on top.

Cover the strawberries with more Chantilly cream, spreading lightly with the rubber spatula. “Use rubber spatula to spread cream lightly.” “Chantilly cream will help make second pastry round stick when placed on top”

Set the second round of pastry on top and spread with half of the remaining Chantilly cream. A note from Eatopic: Slide the pastry round directly from the wire rack to avoid breaking it.

Cover with the remaining strawberries and carefully spread the rest of the Chantilly cream on top, smoothing it gently.

Pipe 8 strips of Chantilly cream rosettes on top of the torte in a spoke design. “Hold piping bag at slight angle and press evenly”

Top with the wedges of pastry, setting them at an angle with one long edge alongside a strip of Chantilly cream. “Push pastry wedge gently but firmly into cream”

Put a whole strawberry in the gaps between the pastry wedges. Pipe a large swirled rosette of Chantilly cream (Click here to see how to make Chantilly Cream) in the center of the torte. Strip the mint leaves from the sprigs and use them to decorate the torte. #TO SERVE# Cut between the pastry wedges. Serve the raspberry coulis separately. “Mint leaves are bright, fresh color contrast” “Crisp hazelnut pastry wedges are irresistible with whipped cream and strawberries.”