Italian Chestnut Chocolate Cake

Over Christmas, we managed to acquire an abundant supply of chestnuts.  After a quick search, we came across this recipe and we were intrigued by the concept of chestnut in a cake.  It’s also gluten free.

It was a triumph.  Andrea (former camera girl for our live cooks) isn’t a fan of nuts, but we twisted her arm.  ‘Really enjoyed the cake.  Didn’t taste chestnutty at all – who knew!’.

Method

To make the cake

1. Setup your Egg for an indirect cook at 180°C with the ConvEGGtor, stainless steel grid on top and then the baking stone.
2. Butter and line the baking tin with baking parchment.
3. Blitz the chestnuts in a mixer, next time I’d blitz slightly less so there was a bit more texture that you can see in the picture.
4. Break the dark chocolate into pieces and place in a glass bowl.  Melt the chocolate in the microwave in short bursts stirring until melted.  Leave to cool.
5. Separate the 6 egg yolks and whites.
6. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
7. In a separate bowl, cream together the egg yolks, sugar and butter.  Add melted chocolate and 1 cup of the chestnut meal and stir until all combined.
8. Add a small amount of egg white to the chocolate mixture and mix until combined.
9. Add the remaining egg white to the chocolate mixture.  Fold through gently with a metal spoon until just combined. (Don’t work the egg white too much as this knocks all the air out and the cake will not be light and fluffy!)
10. Transfer the mixture to a lined cake tin.
11. Place on the Egg for 40 – 60 minutes (or until an inserted skewer comes out clean).
12. Once removed from the egg, set aside to cool.

To finish

1. Remove from the tin and serve topped with the remaining blitzed chestnut.
2. Serve with a dash of cream or ice cream.