There’s simple no fall for me without pumpkins and no beginning of winter without chestnuts. Ideally both in combination. For today’s recipe I highlight the chestnut though because I realized that there’s hardly any recipe on this blog (this is an understatement – there’s none!). Which is wrong. So wrong. Because it doesn’t depict me or what I like. So I’m changing this shortcoming now with a recipe that’s dear to my heart stomach: chestnut cake.
It might appears that this recipe has many steps to follow but it’s really easy. We’re making a chocolate sponge and a topping with chestnut puree (store bought!) and cream. That’s basically it. Easy as – ahm – pie cake.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 80 g dark chocolate
- 80 g butter (at room temperature)
- 150 g sugar
- 70 g flour
- 250 g chestnut puree
- 10 g powder sugar
- 1/2 l cream
- 5 sheets of gelantin
- 3 Tbsp coffee liquor
- 150 g dark chocolate
- 6 Tbsp cream
- 1 Tbsp honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
- For the dough separate the eggs.
- Melt the chocolate over a water bath.
- Put the melted chocolate aside and cut the butter into pieces into the same bowl.
- Whisk it well with a mixer and add slowly the egg yolks and half of the sugar until it's all well combined.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff with the other half of the sugar.
- Bake the cake for 25 mins and let it cool down completely on a wire rack.
- While the cake cools, you can start with the cream: mix the chestnut puree with the powder sugar.
- Put the gelatin into a bowl with cold water.
- Beat the cream until stiff with 1 Tbsp of sugar.
- Heat the coffee liquor in a pot and put the gelatin in (without the water!). Stir it well until it's completely dissolved.
- Add the gelatin to the chestnut puree and mix it all together.
- Add half of the beaten cream and stir well.
- Fold the rest of the cream into the chestnut mousse.
- Put a metal cake ring around the dough and put the cream on top.
- Let it rest in the fridge for about 2 hours.
- For the last half an hour I put it in the freezer to make it easer to add the chocolate glaze.
- For the glaze melt the chocolate over a water bath, add the cream and honey.
- Free the cake from it's ring and pour the glaze on top.
- If you've frozen the cake as well it should harden within minutes and be ready to serve.
- Enjoy!
When I make a cake I always share it with whoever is near me (*hint *hint). This time I managed to serve it 2 people that never had chestnut cake. Ever. In their whole life. I mean: how’s that possible?! They’ve been clearly missing out on some of the culinary wonders our world has to offer.
I felt like I had to fill in on their education and they both liked it. The moral of this story: If you like chestnuts you’ll love this recipe, I promise.
Another fun fact (this time about this shoot): When I shot this cake I thought it would look great with a black background to make it really pop. So I set up the background with a board that I painted black. When I was shooting, suddenly the board moved and knocked the candle holders over – right onto the cake. Unfortunately I didn’t had the feeling that I had the best shots already. So I patched it all up again and continued shooting. Can you still see the dents in the back of the cake?
I did my best. As always.
Now. Carry on!
