Lindt Lindor Cake, perfectly moist, crunchy and rich, is our favourite gianduja recipe. It’s the perfect homemade cake to bake when a craving for Swiss chocolate creeps up on you.
Looking for the best recipe for Lindt Cake, Lindor Cake or Gianduja Cake? This decadent chocolate cake features Lindt chocolate bars, Lindor truffles, Nutella “gianduja icing,” and roasted hazelnuts.
Lindt Chocolate Cake is a perfect dessert idea for gianduja lovers celebrating a birthday party, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day or Christmas.
Or enjoy this Swiss chocolate-inspired single-layer cake as a decadent snack any night of the week!
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What Is Gianduja?
Gianduia or gianduja is a sweet chocolate spread containing approximately 30% hazelnut paste. The sweet confection was invented in Turin, Italy during Napoleon’s regency, between 1796-1814.
The Continental System, imposed by Napoleon in 1806, prevented British goods from entering European ports under French control, putting a strain on cocoa supplies.
A chocolatier in Turin named Michele Prochet extended the small amount of chocolate he had by mixing it with local hazelnuts. From a base of gianduja, Turin-based chocolate manufacturer Caffarel invented gianduiotto in 1852.
The world’s most famous Gianduja is Nutella, which we use as an icing in this Lindt Cake recipe.
Travel to Switzerland by Baking Lindt Lindor Cake at Home
I love traveling to Europe!
I’ve had the opportunity to visit Switzerland four times to sample the best Swiss dishes, which are served everywhere from cute local restaurants to luxurious Michelin starred dining rooms. I’ve explored the best Swiss Chocolate Shops and learned to make traditional Tartiflette Reblochon at home.
Over the years I’ve written numerous stories on popular Swiss travel destinations such as Geneva, Lugano, Gruyere, Montreux, Lausanne, Bern, Andermatt, Zermatt, Basel, Burgenstock, Lucerne, Zurich, Interlaken and St. Gallen.
While Switzerland is a tiny country it is wonderfully diverse, featuring German, French and Italian regions. Switzerland’s one constant is its love for quality chocolate. It is considered the birthplace of milk chocolate and home to many of the world’s best chocolatiers.
Once back home from a trip to Switzerland you’ll have a newfound appreciation for Swiss chocolate and can impress friends and family by baking this yummy Lindt Lindor Cake recipe!
Best Chocolate For Lindt Chocolate Cake
Our recipe for homemade Lindt Cake includes two kinds of quality Swiss chocolate: chopped Lindt Hazelnut Chocolate Bars and Lindor Hazelnut Chocolate “Gianduja” Truffles.
Lindt is Switzerland’s most famous chocolate company and their products are easy to find at a local grocery store or candy shop.
Lindt’s story began in 1845. The confectioner, David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his inventive son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann, owned a small candy shop in the Marktgasse of Zurich’s Old Town. They decided to be the first ones in the German speaking part of Switzerland to manufacture chocolate in a solid form.
The innovative new treat was met with the approval of Zurich’s social elite because, after two years, it moved chocolate production from a cramped Zurich bakery to a small factory endowed with a water-supply in Horgen at the top end of Lake Zurich. Even at that time, as many as ten workers were employed.
Today, Lindt & Sprüngli is the third largest North American chocolate manufacturer. The company’s various chocolate brands are manufactured in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and America.
You can purchase several kinds of Lindt Chocolate Bars, which are usually described by their cacao percentage, such as 78% cocoa, 70%, 75%, 90% and 99%. The higher the percentage of cocoa the more bitter the chocolate bar will taste.
This moist Lindt Cake recipe is garnished with Lindor Hazelnut Chocolate Gianduja Truffles, which are cut in half and appear like pretty domes across the surface of the cake. We think they look like the Swiss alps!
Visit Switzerland’s Best Chocolate Shops
If you’re a lover of fine chocolate we encourage you to plan a pilgrimage to Switzerland to visit the Best Swiss Chocolate Shops.
Many of the best chocolate shops in Switzerland have a deeply rooted history in their home towns. They are often located in the city’s town square and are frequented regularly by tourists and locals. You can often enjoy a Swiss chocolate tasting to learn more about the history of chocolate in Switzerland. Many Swiss chocolate shop tours include a tour of the factory and production area, which finishes with a yummy tutored chocolate tasting.
I organized a trip to the French region of Switzerland, taking the train from Geneva to Gruyere. It helped me appreciate how important dairy cows are to the Swiss economy and culture. I even spent a few days on a weekend getaway to Gruyere. You can stay at an agriturismo on a family-run cheese farm. Waking up each morning to a choir of cows mooing at you is beautiful bliss!
Switzerland’s most famous dishes and locally produced foods all contain dairy, thanks to the cows that graze the scenic Swiss Alps. Besides Swiss Chocolate you can sample fresh yogurt, cheeses like Gruyere and Emmental and the countries signature dish, cheese fondue.
We’ve used Lindt chocolate bars and Lindor truffles in this recipe because they are excellent quality and easy to purchase in Canada and America.
My Family Loves Homemade Gianduja Cake
My family loves baking.
We’ve mastered the art of sourdough bread, moist muffins, pretty pancakes, crunchy cookies, homemade pies and celebratory cakes.
When I was little my mom would dedicate hours to decorating specialty cakes for our birthdays. She’d visit the local bake shop to purchase cake pans in the shape of our favourite heroes of the moment, from My Little Pony to Cookie Monster.
She’d decorate our birthday cakes each year using specialty piping bags. Famously one year when I was a toddler, she was piping bright red fur onto a chocolate cake shaped like Elmo. Halfway through icing the cake she went to answer the phone and when she returned the icing had moved from the cakes surface to a joyous smear across my giggling face.
My love for eating cake into adulthood has been an honest and enthusiastic evolution.
My family love sweets that feature a combination of chocolate and hazelnuts. So it’s no wonder this Lindt Chocolate Cake recipe is one of our favourites to bake during special occasions.
Lindt Chocolate Cake Baking Tips
If it’s your first time baking Lindt Cake at home be sure to review our detailed step-by-step recipe below. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
- We suggest using a high quality rubber spatula when scraping cake batter into baking tins.
- You’ll save yourself time and energy by using a stand mixer to beat the cake batter. You can also use a handheld egg beater or whisk as an alternative.
- We’ve prepared this recipe using a square cake pan but you could use a round cake pan if you prefer.
- Use an offset icing spatula to spread the Nutella evenly across the cake.
- If you are going to have leftovers store the cake in the fridge under a cake dome to keep it fresh.
- To bake an authentic Gianduja Cake you need to incorporate chocolate and hazelnuts into the recipe. There is some flexibility in what products you use. If you can’t find Lindor Hazelnut Truffles you could substitute for Lindor Dark Chocolate Truffles. We prefer using dark chocolate but you could use truffles or chocolate bars that feature milk chocolate instead.
- We’ve used Nutella as our Gianduja icing but you could substitute for Lindt Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Spread.
What To Serve with Lindor Cake
We suggest serving this decadent Lindt Lindor Cake for special celebrations like birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, Valentine’s Day or Christmas.
We also love serving a thick slice at tea time or during a coffee break. It pairs nicely with a hot pot of floral black tea or dark roast coffee.
You can also make a decadent ice cream sundae by serving a slice of Lindor Gianduja Cake with a scoop of chocolate or hazelnut ice cream. Top the sundae with fresh berries and chocolate sauce.
If you’re a fan of Lindt Chocolate or Lindor Truffles you’ll love baking our famous Dark Chocolate Lindt Lindor Cookies!
Essential Cake Tools & Equipment
Whether you’re a novice baker or consider yourself a pastry king or queen, it’s important to outfit your kitchen with quality tools and equipment.
We’ve created a list of our favourite baking gadgets on Amazon to help you make this impressive Gianduja Cake at home!
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- French Knife
- Round Cake Pans
- Stand Mixer
- Cooling Rack
- Spatula
- Skillet
- Cake Turntable
- Offset Icing Knife
- Cake Dome
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How To Make Lindt Lindor Gianduja Cake Recipe
Gianduja Lindor Lindt Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- Offset Spatula
- whisk
- spatula
- Mixing bowls
- Cake Pan
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 1/2 cup Nutella divided
- 1/2 cup Canola Oil
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 oz Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur
- 1 oz Creme de Cocoa
- 1/2 cup Lindt Hazelnut Chocolate Bar chopped
- 1/4 cup Hazelnuts finely chopped
- 5 Lindor Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Truffles sliced in half
Instructions
- Position a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat to 350 F. Grease a square baking pan with nonstick spray. Line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and egg until pale and foamy, 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of the chocolate hazelnut Nutella, oil, milk, vanilla and salt. Whisk until smooth and emulsified. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and whisk until well combined and smooth. Stir in the Frangelico and Creme de Cocoa, then fold in the chopped Lindt chocolate bar.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, tap the pan gently on the counter to release any air bubbles. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
- Bake the cake until puffed, 40 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and set on a rack to cool completely.
- Using an offset spatula, spread the remaining Nutella over the top of the cake.
- Unwrap the Lindor Hazelnut Milk Chocolates. Using a sharp knife, gently slice the truffles in half at their seam. Gently press the Lindor halves into the icing, dome side up. Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts over the cake. Slice and serve.
Nutrition
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