GlowFit Kitchen
← Home

Hazelnut praline birthday cake: A nutty highlight for your celebration

Birthday Cakes · March 31, 2026 · 13 min read · 150 min total

Hazelnut praline birthday cake: A nutty highlight for your celebration is a birthday cakes recipe, about 150 minutes total, yielding 12-14 pieces, challenging difficulty.

A tall hazelnut sponge cake layered with praline cream and decorated with golden hazelnut brittle pieces.

If you're looking for a stunning cake for your next celebration, look no further. This hazelnut praline birthday cake combines soft hazelnut sponge with a creamy praline buttercream and is spectacularly finished with homemade hazelnut brittle.

While the cake is a small project, each component is broken down into simple steps so you can safely make it at home. The result? A real eye-catcher that delights with its roasted caramel flavor in every bite - it's definitely worth the effort on a special day!

Ingredients for hazelnut praline cake including hazelnuts, butter, eggs, sugar and caramel pieces on a baking tray.
Prepare all the ingredients – the star is the homemade hazelnut praline.

This is how you make hazelnut praline

Hazelnut praline is simply caramelized sugar poured over toasted hazelnuts and then blended into a crunchy paste. It adds a deep, toasted flavor to both the buttercream and as a crunchy topping.

Hazelnut sponge cake dough is stirred by hand in a bowl.
A wonderfully nutty, fragrant sponge cake dough is created.

Biscuit tips

Use finely ground hazelnuts (or hazelnut flour) for a tender crumb and maximum flavor. If you can't get ground hazelnuts, you can finely grind roasted whole hazelnuts in a blender.

Hazelnut biscuits cool down next to praline pieces and creamy buttercream.
The sponge cake bases and praline pieces are cooling down - it's time to put them together.

Cool the cake layers well before assembling - this ensures more stability. The following applies to the buttercream: beat for a long time until it is really light and silky - this makes it particularly creamy. Be sure to save some praline for decoration on top!

A piece of hazelnut praline cake with visible pieces of praline and buttercream.
A real eye-catcher: each slice is full of nutty layers and caramel crunch.

The cake keeps well covered at a cool room temperature. The praline pieces add that certain something, but can also be prepared well and only placed shortly before serving so that they stay nice and crispy.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 200 g hazelnuts (100 g whole, 100 g ground)
  • 225 g soft butter (unsalted)
  • 225 g golden sugar (fine)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 200g self-rising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 80 ml milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 200 g sugar (for the praline)
  • 250 g butter (unsalted, for the buttercream)
  • 400 g powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3-4 tbsp hazelnut praline paste

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan oven 160°C). Grease two round baking tins (20 cm) and line them with baking paper.
  2. Roast 100g whole hazelnuts until golden brown. Set aside. Later process into praline in the mixer.
  3. For the sponge cake: Beat 225 g butter with the golden sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and stir each one in well.
  4. Mix in ground hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Gradually add the milk and mix everything into a smooth dough.
  5. Divide the dough between the tins and bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
  6. For the praline: Melt 200g sugar in a saucepan until golden. Pour it over the roasted hazelnuts on baking paper. Allow to cool. Break into pieces and mix half of it into a paste.
  7. For the buttercream: Beat 250g butter until light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar, then the praline paste. Beat everything until it's nice and fluffy.
  8. To assemble: Layer the cake with the praline buttercream. Decorate the top with broken chocolate pieces for extra crunch.