Chestnut and Chocolate Cake

This is a rich, moist, soft and interesting cake.  The combination between chocolate and chestnuts goes ever so well together.

This recipe has been recently given to me by Vida, my sister’s mother in law who lives in Slovenia. Slovenia is less than an hour away from my home town in Italy. It is a beautiful country with lots of mountains and diverse scenery.
It also has a small stretch of coastline where we had a fantastic fish meal, but that is another story for another time!

Lake Bled in Slovenia

During the autumn she picks chestnuts in the woods, then freezes them and uses them around the year, mainly for cake making. Also she picks fruits of the forest and makes wonderful jams and tarts.

I have been trying a few Slovenian cakes Vida made and always look forward to the next one, they are all excellent and different to the ones I usually make. Every country has its own specialties and there is always something new to learn.

Now that chestnuts are not in season, I have used chestnuts flour instead of fresh ones. This saves time as well. You can find it in many supermarkets.

• Prep Time : 50 minutes
• Cook Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients

• sugar – 200 g
• eggs – 8
• chestnuts flour – 210 g
• rum – 2 tbsp
• breadcrumbs – 3 tbsp
• vanilla essence – 1 tbsp
• baking powder – 2 tsp
• cocoa – 3 tbsp
• For the filling:
• butter – 200 g
• sugar – 100 g
• chestnut flour – 300 g
• dark chocolate finely grated – 3 tbsp
• egg – 1
• For the chocolate icing:
• dark chocolate – 100 g
• butter – 50 g

Instructions

In a bowl mix the egg yolks with the sugar. Beat the white of the eggs to a firm consistency and add them to the mixture. Then add the cocoa, breadcrumbs, baking powder, vanilla, rum and chestnut flour and stir it all well in.

Put it in the oven at 180 C for 30 minutes.
When the cake has cooled down slice it into 3 layers.
For the filling: work the butter with a mixer to a soft consistency, add the egg, sugar, chestnut flour and chocolate.

Fill 2 layers of the cake with this mixture.
To make the icing: put the chocolate in a bowl and on top of a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not come in contact with the water) and let it melt. Then add the butter and stir it all in.Cover the cake with the chocolate icing and let it cool down.

You can decorate it with fresh flowers or sugary ones.

Advertisement