Chestnut Cake with Chocolate Glaze Recipe

Do you like French Mont-Blanc cake with meringue? Then try this chestnut cake from Ardèche region of France (below Lyon). This cake is also extremely sweet like Mont-Blanc but it has more chestnut flavor because it’s basically chestnut spread cake. There is no flour and no sugar in this recipe. And chestnut spread (sugar content 60%) is already cooked.

A small piece of chestnut cake is perfect with strong espresso.  Let’s get cooking!

Chestnut Cake with Chocolate Glaze

7 inch round cake (18cm)
Level: easy
Prep time: 30 min
Cooking time: 40 min
Total time: 1 hour 10 min

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs, medium-sized
• 1 half stick unsalted butter, softened (57g)
• 1 can (17,6 oz) of chestnut spread, crème de marrons (500g)

For chocolate glaze:

• 3.53 oz dark chocolate cacao 70%, chopped (100g)
• 1/5 cup whipping cream (47g)

Directions

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. (150 C)
2. Line the pan with a parchment paper and spray oil over it; set aside.

Prepare the batter

1. In a mixing bowl add in butter and chestnut spread and stir until homogeneous.
2. Separate the eggs and set aside the egg whites. Add in egg yolks into chestnut mixture, corn starch, and baking powder; stir until well combined.
3. Beat the egg whites until hard peaks. Add in a small amount of chestnut mixture into egg whites and lightly whisk to combined. Then pour the whole egg whites into chestnut mixture and fold delicately.
4. Pour the batter in the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 40 minutes.

Prepare chocolate glaze

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Meantime bring the whipping cream to a boil, then add in melted chocolate slowly stirring continually. Blend the mixture until silky.

Finish 

Remove the cake from the pan and the parchment paper. Pour the chocolate glaze on top of the cake and spread evenly with spatula.

Tips

Chocolate for glaze should be bitter (cacao 70%) because the cake itself is very sweet already.