Baked Sunday Mornings: Tunnel of Hazelnut Fudge Cake

As I am a fan of the Pillsbury Bakeoff, I'm familiar with the Tunnel of Fudge Cake from the 1966 contest -- apparently the recipe generated massive demand for Bundt pans. But I've never tried any of the modern adaptations of the recipe (modern adaptations are all that is left -- the original recipe called for a Pillsbury dry frosting mix that is no longer available). The cake has always scared me a little, because it doesn't seem like it should work -- how can you get a perfectly round tunnel of pudding-like fudge inside a Bundt cake? And testing the cake for doneness is basically impossible -- something that drives a Type-A baker like me a little bonkers.

But this week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe is the Tunnel of Hazelnut Fudge Cake, a riff on a Tunnel of Fudge Cake that replaces the walnuts from the original recipe with hazelnuts. The batter seems like nothing out of the ordinary. You cream room temperature butter with sugar and dark brown sugar; add eggs and egg yolks, followed by oil and vanilla; mix in powdered sugar and cocoa; and fold in a mixture of ground toasted hazelnuts, flour, and salt. Your pour the batter into a greased Bundt pan and bake.
The recipe basically says there is no reliable way to tell when the cake is done and admonishes bakers to keep an eye on the oven temperature and baking time. This made me nervous, because while I use an oven thermometer and had no worries about baking temperature, my consistent experience is that for recipes from Baked, required baking times are longer than specified.

The baking time provided in the recipe is 38-45 minutes, and I decided not to check the cake until the 45-minute mark. At that point, the edges were already starting to pull away from the pan, but the top of the cake had no spring at all when I pressed on it, so I put it back in the oven. When I pulled it out again five minutes later, the cake sprang back a little, so I took it out and left the pan on a rack to cool for a few hours. As the cake cooled, the center sunk significantly and it didn't look pretty. I should have followed the tip in the cookbook to press down on the surface of the cake where it touches the inner and outer edges of the pan to prevent this from happening.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the cooled cake neatly turned out of the pan intact. I grabbed a serrated bread knife and held my breath when I gently sawed into it, unsure of what I would find. I was overjoyed when I saw that there was a tunnel of fudge in the cake. But my cake didn't look much like the photo in the cookbook. First, because my cake had sunk in the middle, each slice was oddly shaped like an ear. Also, while every photo I've ever seen of a tunnel of fudge cake shows a nicely round fudge tunnel perfectly centered in the middle of the cake, my tunnel was lopsided.

But this cake was absolutely delicious. We tried it both at room temperature and cold (as suggested in the recipe headnote), and my preference is for the cold cake. The entire cake had a delightfully chewy texture, and chilling the cake enhanced the chewiness. The smooth flavor combination of chocolate and hazelnuts is one of my favorites. I wasn't sure what to expect for the fudgy center. It looked like uncooked cake batter, but it had a texture like soft caramel. To me, this cake seems like a cross between cake and candy, and it offers the best of both worlds.

Recipe: "Tunnel of Hazelnut Fudge Cake" from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Comments

Unknown said…
Not being able to rely on the toothpick test was very stressful for me too! I think I ended up baking my cake for 20 more minutes than suggested, but half of it stuck to the pan! I agree that the texture was awesomely chewy, but I wish the chocolate flavour was more intense! 4 recipes to go!
Anonymous said…
Your cake and mine look very similar - I had the 'ear-like' shape as well from it sinking in the middle. So far, we seem to be the lone rangers in the group who actually liked the flavor. I felt it was much more intense than last week's bland chocolate muffins. It's definitely a tricky cake and I can see why everyone wasn't a fan. I'm a type-A baker too, so not being able to test it was frustrating! Haha! Nice job!
Anonymous said…
Agreed-- those of us that are a touch, shall we say... particular?... struggled with the ambiguous baking time/doneness. Still, your tunnel looks great, despite the sinking. I'm glad you liked it-- I thought it was delicious too!
Susan said…
This one was tough - my family loved it, but me, not so much!
It still looks good. The middle looks nice and fudgy. I didn't get to make it, the baking time and no clear 'when is it done' instructions scared me. But I will definitely have to try it, as it sounds yummy.