Hazelnut Gâteau Breton (Brittany France) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted, husked
6 large egg yolks
1 cup salted butter, melted
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1 large egg yolk beaten with 2 teaspoons water (for glaze)
20 strawberries

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan.
Mix the sugar with the vanilla extract to make vanilla sugar. Make sure to break apart any lumps that form.
Now mix 2 tbsp of the vanilla sugar with the hazelnuts. Add them to a food processor or grinder and blend until the nuts form a fine powder.
Mix the 6 egg yolks with the rest of the vanilla sugar and whisk for 2 minutes. Then add the hazelnut mixture, then gradually add the melted butter. Keep whisking.
Now sift the flour over the batter and stir gently until just blended. Don't overmix; this is a thick batter and you don't want it to turn out rock hard.
Put the batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Brush the egg glaze over the top, then draw some cross hatches with a fork.
Bake at 325 for about an hour, or until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes, then loosen the springform pan and allow to cool completely. Serve with whole strawberries.