Dark Chocolate Chestnut Cake

This is easily one of the best things you can do with a bag of chestnuts, a sweet tooth and 1 hour of your time. Intense, indulgent, but not too heavy. And you’ll notice it has no flour in it so it’s gluten-free, too. Use pre-cooked chestnuts to speed this up.

ingredients

Serves 10- 12

• 300g raw chestnuts or 150g vac packed

• 250g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease

• 40g demerara sugar

• 150ml whole milk

• 125ml double cream, plus extra to serve

• 250g 70% cocoa chocolate, broken into pieces

• 4 eggs, separated

• 150g soft brown sugar

• ½ tsp salt

• 2 tbsp icing sugar, to dust 

• Zest of 1 orange, to decorate 
  

instructions

Score each chestnut with an ‘x’ using a small, serrated knife. Put them in a pan of boiling water and boil briskly for 20-25 minutes until you can easily peel away the two layers of skin. Allow to cool slightly, then peel while still warm. Skip this step if using pre-cooked vac-packed chestnuts.

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/Gas 5. Grease the bottom and sides of a 22cm springform cake tin and sprinkle with the demerara so it’s evenly coated.

 Place the peeled chestnuts in a saucepan with the milk and cream and simmer for 10 minutes, then transfer to a blender or small processor and blitz to a fine puree.

 Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir occasionally, until just melted.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the soft brown sugar and salt, then fold in the chestnut purée, then the melted chocolate.

 In a separate, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Stir a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mix, then fold the whites into the chocolate, being careful not to over-mix.

 Pour into the cake tin and place in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. It will seem a bit wobbly, but this is what you want. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool on its base.

 Once cool, dust over the icing sugar and zest over the orange. Serve with creme fraiche or double cream.