Crunchy Chocolate Cakes. Or rather, Crunchy Chocolate Traybake. It’s a simple chocolate cake mix, sandwiched together by a crunchy, nutty layer. Fairly quick and easy to make, it’s a simple traybake.

I used hazelnuts for my traybake as I think hazelnuts and chocolate are a great combination. For reference, I’d recommend my Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies. But feel free to use whatever you prefer, or have at hand.

The baking process is pretty simple. For the base and topping, just rub the butter into the flour and stir through the nuts and sugar. If you can’t get demerara sugar, then you’d get a similar taste from brown sugar.

Just make sure to press this base layer firmly into your tin. And then when it comes to the cake layer, the best approach is to place spoonfuls of the mix on top of the base. Then very carefully spread the mix to the edges, being careful not to disturb the crumble too much.

Then it’s just a case of sprinkling the remaining crumble mix over the top. And then bake.

These Crunchy Chocolate Cakes are at their best on the day you make it, as it will start to dry out a little. If you find that yours has gone a little dry, then serving it in a bowl with some custard as a dessert would work well.