Thursday baking - chocolate hazelnut cake

Ray McVinnie has a weekly recipe feature in the Sunday magazine that comes with the Sunday Star Times. I always read his recipes, but (perhaps because his food is particularly un-photogenic) they never really appeal. A few weeks ago he had a cake feature which looked interesting, So I made this chocolate hazelnut cake. I agree with Ray that the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts go well together, but sadly, my results with this cake were disappointing. There's no raising agent in the cake, so it's very dense. Perhaps I overcooked it, but my version was very dry, and certainly needed a high ratios of cream to cake. I foolishly cooled my cake on a wire rack, which left indented lines on the top. Ray recommended serving the cake warm, which did help improve it, but not enough for my liking. Not that I'll be making it again, but it could be improved with a coffee syrup poured over it, or it would make a good base for a trifle or fudge cake. Here's the recipe... Chocolate Hazelnut Cake 6 eggs 250g caster sugar 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 50ml extra virgin olive oil 200g finely chopped New Zealand hazelnuts 150g chopped dark chocolate 175g flour whipped cream, for serving. Preheat the oven to 175C. Butter and line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until pale, creamy and thick. Stir in the oil, then hazelnuts, chocolate and flour. Pour into tin and cook for 30minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely.