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Chestnut and Chocolate Cake

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Chestnut and Chocolate Cake excerpted from A Year in the Kitchen by Blanche Vaughan.

This Catalan-inspired cake recipe by Claudia 
Rosen is moist and rich and truffle-like. Decadent and seasonal.

Chestnut and Chocolate Cake excerpted from A Year in the Kitchen by Blanche Vaughan.

Chestnut and Chocolate Cake

Blanche Vaughan
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine Spanish
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

For the cake:

  • 4-1/2 oz (125g) vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts
  • 4 fl oz (125ml) full-fat milk
  • 4-1/2 oz (125g) dark chocolate, broken into pieces, plus  5 tablespoons freshly grated, to garnish
  • 4-1/2 oz (125g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
  • 2-1/4 oz (65g) caster sugar 
  • 2 tablespoons whisky
  • 2 large eggs, beaten

For the topping:

  • 7 fl oz (200ml) double cream
  • 1–2 teaspoons icing sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan), 350°F, Gas mark 4. Place the chestnuts and milk in a saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil over a low heat, then cook for a few minutes until soft. Remove from the heat and mash the chestnuts with a potato masher to a rough purée.
  • Place the chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl on a small pan of barely simmering water – there should be only a little water so that the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water. Add the butter and stir occasionally as it melts with the chocolate.
  • Add the caster sugar, melted chocolate and butter, whisky and eggs to the chestnut purée in the saucepan. Mix thoroughly.
  • Grease and line a 20cm (8in) nonstick springform cake tin with baking parchment and pour in the mixture. Bake for 30–35 minutes until slightly firm. Turn the cake out when it cools – it can be upside down.
  • To make the topping, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft peaks form.
  • To serve, cover the cake with the cream and sprinkle with the grated chocolate. 

Notes

A Year in the Kitchen by Blanche Vaughan (© 2023). Published by Mitchell Beazley, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group.Recipe reprinted with permission from A Year in the Kitchen by Blanche Vaughan. Published by Mitchell Beazley, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group, 2023.
Keyword A Year in the Kitchen, Baking, Blanche Vaughan, Butter, Chestnuts, Chocolate, Christmas, Eggs, Holiday, Vanilla extract, Whisky

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