Ingredients
Method
1.Combine apricots and water in small saucepan; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until apricot is soft. Cool.
2.Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F. Grease deep 22cm (8-inch) round cake pan; line base with baking paper.
3.Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to large bowl; stir in apricot mixture, sifted flours and cocoa, ground hazelnuts and buttermilk. Spread mixture into pan.
4.Bake cake about 1¾ hours. Stand cake in pan 10 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.
5.Make chocolate buttermilk cream; stir chocolate and buttermilk in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water until smooth; stir in sifted icing sugar. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until mixture is spreadable.
6.Split cold cake into three layers; sandwich layers with two-thirds of the chocolate buttermilk cream. Spread top of cake with remaining buttermilk cream. Top with dark chocolate curls. if you like.
To make chocolate curls, run a cheese slicer down the back of a slightly warmed block of chocolate. For smaller curls, run a vegetable peeler down the side of a block of chocolate.
Note
