Strawberry Hazelnut Cake

When you ask somebody what they would like for dinner, you have to then be prepared to create what they have asked for. On this occasion, the request was for "something healthy." Damn, there goes my ideas of a luscious chocolate cheesecake or a cream laden pavlova.

I dragged out a "Slimmers' Book," that obviously hadn't seen the light of day for many years and began to flip. There were some quite nice looking recipes in it, but most with watery looking sauces and over proportioned with vegetables. There were, however, some tasty looking desserts that looked ideal for this horrendous, humid weather we are surviving through at the moment. 

This hazelnut strawberry cake is delicious, but I have to confess I made some small modifications, so it might not be as "slimmers" as it was originally. Not too decadent though.

INGREDIENTS

Cake

• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 1/3 cup self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup ground hazelnuts

Strawberry filling

• 125g light cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon strawberry or raspberry jam
• 1/2 of 250g punnet strawberries

Cream cheese topping

• 125g cream cheese
• 1/3 cup cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Decoration

• Remaining half punnet of strawberries
• Small amount of ground hazelnuts.

METHOD

1. Grease deep 20cm round can pan and line base with baking paper.

2. Beat eggs and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy.

3. Fold in sifted flour and hazelnuts.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

5. Bake in a moderate over for 30 minutes.

6. Turn onto wire rack to cool. 

Strawberry Filling

7. Blend or process cream cheese, jam and 1/2 punnet of strawberries until smooth.

Cream cheese topping

8. Blend or process all ingredients until smooth.

Assembly

9. When cake is cold, cut in half horizontally.

10. Spread with filling and top with remaining cake.

11. Spread cream cheese filling over cake.

12. Decorate with reserved strawberries and ground hazelnuts.

13. Refrigerate for several hours.