Chocolate New Year's cake from Piedmont

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

2. Place in a small saucepan 170 g butter, sugar and 300 g chocolate, broken into pieces. Put in a water bath, and melt into a homogeneous mass.

3. Grind almonds and walnuts in a blender into small crumbs.

4. Separate the proteins from the yolks. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt with a whisk in an elastic foam.

5. Beat the yolks with a mixer. Without stopping whisking, add the chocolate-creamy mass to the yolks and pour in the chopped nuts. Then fold in the beaten egg whites in several additions.

6. Lubricate the baking dish with the remaining butter, lay out the dough and send it to the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Check the doneness with a skewer and if the cake is not baked, cover it with baking paper and return to the oven for another 5-7 minutes.

7. For cream, grate the orange zest on a fine grater, squeeze the juice out of it.

8. Prepare the cream: combine the zest with 2 tbsp. l. orange juice, add mascarpone, cinnamon, powdered sugar, cognac and mix everything thoroughly.

9. Cut the cooled chocolate cake in half lengthwise, brush the bottom half with cream and cover with the second one.

10. Prepare the icing: melt 100 g of chocolate in a water bath, then add honey, mix, pour the icing over the cake and smooth with a wide knife.

11. Crush the hazelnuts in a mortar and sprinkle the cake on them from all sides.