Mini Bundt Cake with Chocolate and Hazelnuts

First, preheat the oven to 180 °C fan. The batter contains no baking powder, only the air from the beaten egg whites – when it's ready, the oven should be ready, not the other way round.

Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a truly grease-free Bowl. Let the granulated sugar (part 1) trickle in gradually, not all at once, otherwise the egg whites become heavy and lose volume. Keep beating until they are glossy and a peak stands up when you pull out the whisk. Then set them aside.

"Grease-free" is no empty phrase here: a trace of butter or a drop of egg yolk is enough to stop the egg whites from stiffening. When in doubt, wipe the Bowl out with a little lemon juice.

In a second Bowl, weigh out the egg yolk, the soft butter, the couverture melted to 40 °C and the granulated sugar (part 2). Beat everything lightly until fluffy with the hand mixer or the food processor.

The temperature of the couverture is crucial. 40 °C feels warm on the back of your hand, but not hot. If it is warmer, the egg yolk sets and you get little lumps; if it is cold, the butter firms up again and the batter curdles. The easiest approach is to melt the couverture while you whip the egg whites – then it will have the right temperature by itself when you need it.

Now comes the step that decides how airy it turns out. Fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate batter in three portions with the Rubber scraper – don't stir, but lift from the bottom to the top while turning the Bowl.

You can work the first portion in a bit more firmly, as it makes the heavy batter supple in the first place. With the second and third, proceed gently and stop as soon as no white streaks are visible anymore. Every extra stir costs volume, and because no baking powder helps out here, you won't get it back.

In a separate Bowl, weigh out the White flour and the ground hazelnuts and mix them briefly by hand. This way the small amount of flour is distributed evenly between the nuts and won't clump later.

Add the mixture to the batter and gently fold it in too, until everything is homogeneous. Only 35 g of flour to 100 g of nuts: this recipe thrives on the hazelnuts, the flour merely holds it together. Then fill the finished batter into a Piping bag.

Grease the Bundt cake tin generously with soft butter, and really into every groove. Take a brush and work cavity by cavity, including the cone in the middle. This is the step people like to rush – and then half the crown stays in the tin when you turn out your small bundt cakes.

Next, sprinkle chopped flaked white almonds into every single cavity and turn the tin so the slivers stick to the butter everywhere. Tip out any excess. This isn't a decorative flourish but doubly useful: the almonds help release the Bundt cake from the tin, and after turning out they sit on the outside. So the lightly speckled crown is created now, not at the end.

Finally, dust the tin generously with White flour and tap it out briefly. Butter, almonds, flour – in this order the release layer sits, and in this order each one later comes free on its own.

Fill each cavity with 50 g of batter – the quickest way is with the piping bag directly on the scale. Bake the Bundt cakes at 180 °C fan for 12 to 15 minutes.

The test: a wooden skewer at the thickest point should come out with moist crumbs, not with liquid batter and not completely dry. Better a minute too early than one too late – at 50 g per piece it goes quickly.

Then let the Bundt cakes cool in the tin. Only turn them out afterwards: while warm they are still soft and tear at the crown. Finally, dust with a little snow sugar.