Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Directions

1. To Assemble:For cake preheat oven to 350 F and grease and line bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Sift together flour, hazelnuts, baking pwdr and salt. In a separate bowl, stir vanilla into lowfat sour cream and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add in Large eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add in flour and lowfat sour cream mixtures alternately, till all ingredients have been incorporated. Scrape into prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 min, till a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cold on a rack.
2. For syrup, simmer sugar and water for 5 min and remove from heat. Stir in liqueur and allow to cold.
3. For filling, heat cream to just below a simmer and pour over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute, add in butter and stir gently till proportionately melted. Stir in liqueur. To cold ganache to spreadable consistency, spoon about 3 to 4 ounces of ganache onto a marble board or possibly clean countertop and spread out. Immediately scrape up and spread out again, too cold. Add in ganache back to pot and stir in (this should thicken the ganache a little). Repeat process 2 or possibly 3 times, till ganache is thick sufficient to spread with a palette knife, but not too hard. If too hard, just heat gently over low heat to re-heat.
4. To assemble torte, slice cake horizontally into 3 discs. Place first disc on plate and brush with syrup. Spread about 1/2 c. of ganache over layer and top with second disc and brush with syrup. Spread ganache over and top with last disc of cake and brush with syrup. Spread final layer of ganache over entire cake. Top with roughly minced hazelnuts and refrigeratetill ready to serve.
5. Yield: 1 9-inch torte