Chocolate Chestnut Cake 朱古力栗子蛋糕

I'm glad that my birthday is in winter because it is the season for chestnuts. Chestnut cream cake is my favorite cake second to chocolate cake. I can't really find a bakery that makes good chestnut cake around my area. It either doesn't have much chestnut in it or the chestnut doesn't taste like chestnut at all  : (

I've tried making my own chestnut puree, but it is just too much work: crack open the outer skin, boil the chestnut and remove the inner skin (that's the most tedious part) then puree it...




Then I found the canned version in Whole Food, from France. It's not cheap but it is worth it.

Since chocolate cake and chestnut cake are my two favorites, why not make a chocolate chestnut cake for my own birthday ! The cake is so moist, chocolaty and the cream is full of chestnut flavor. It's heavenly !!

Chocolate Chestnut Cake

make an 8" cake

Ingredients :
145g  chestnut puree
115g  bittersweet chocolate 
72g  unsalted butter, softened
128g  sugar
4  large eggs 
1 tsp  pure vanilla extract 
¼ tsp salt 

1)  Preheat oven to 375⁰F. Butter and flour a 8" springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2)  Melt the chocolate in microwave. Stir and let it cool.
3)  Cream the softened butter and half the sugar in a bowl. Scrape the sides of the bowl often.
4)  Add the chestnut puree and beat until smooth. Add the egg yolks, two at a time, and beat until smooth. Fold in the chocolate and the vanilla.
5)  In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt. When it reaches a soft peak, add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
6)  Scoop a bit of the egg white foam to the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Gently fold the mixture back into the white until no white is seen. Pour into the prepared pan and put the pan on a baking sheet and then into the oven. Lower the temperature to 350⁰F and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature again to 325⁰F and bake for 30-35 minutes more, or until a toothpick comes out dry and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
7)  Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside with the door ajar for 30 minutes.
8)  Take out the cake and continue to cool on a rack.
9)  Remove the cake from the pan and slice it into two layers.

Chestnut Whipped Cream:

1 cup  heavy cream
¼ cup  powdered sugar
1 tsp  powder gelatin in 4 tsp water
200g  chestnut puree
2 tbsp rum

1)  Sprinkle the gelatin on the water and let it soak through. Microwave on low power to dissolve.
2)  Whip cream with powdered sugar until stiff peaks almost form. Add the rum and mix well. Add gelatin with the machine running. Add chestnut puree and mix well.

Chocolate Meringue Logs:

6  egg whites 
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

1)  Preheat oven to 300⁰F.
2)  Whisk together cocoa powder and powdered sugar in a small bowl.
3)  Beat egg whites until frothy and add cream of tartar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
4)  Fold in the cocoa powder mixture. Fit a pastry bag with a 1/3 inch tip and fill it with the chocolate meringue.
5)  Pipe the meringue in strips and fill up the whole pan.
6)  Bake for about an hour or until the logs feel dry and light.

Cake Assembly:

1)  Spread about 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of one layer of cake.

2)  Top with the second layer and spread the rest of the cream on top and the sides.

It cracks but it is ok because it will be covered with whipped cream

Again, it will be covered. It doesn't need to be smoothed out.

3)  Arrange the chocolate meringue logs on the sides of the cake.

4)  Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Cake recipe adapted from Chocolate Cake by Michele Urvater; chocolate meringue log recipe from Baking by James Peterson.

Notes:
1)  This is a flourless cake and the structure is supported by the eggs only. So make sure the whites is fully whipped to stiff peaks and gently folded to retain as much air as possible.
2)  I found that microwave is a better tool to melt chocolate than a double boiler.
3)  The bittersweet chocolate I used has 72% cocoa content. The higher the percentage, the richer and darker is the chocolate.
4)  The heavy cream (and the bowl) has to be very cold to be successfully whipped.
5)  The gelatin is added to the whipped cream for stabilization. Make sure the beater is on when adding gelatin, otherwise it may gel up and becomes clumps.

很高興自己的生日是在冬天,因為這是盛產栗子的季節。除了朱古力蛋糕外,栗子蛋糕是我的第二至愛,但很可惜,好吃的栗子蛋糕很難找到,不是栗子不似栗子,便是份量很少,令我很失望。

我試過自己動手做栗子蓉,但實在太多功夫:除去外殼不太難,但要除去那內皮實在太麻煩,跟着還要打成蓉...好彩在Whole Food找到在法國出產的罐裝無加糖的栗子蓉,價錢雖然不平,但是物有所值。

因為朱古力及栗子都是我的心頭好,今日又是我的牛一,不如做一個朱古力栗子蛋糕啦! 蛋糕幼滑,朱古力味濃,栗子味又夠,真是有如置身天堂的感覺 !!

一個八寸圓蛋糕材料:

145g  栗子蓉 
115g 苦甜朱古力 
72g  無鹽牛油 
128g  糖 
4隻  大蛋 
1茶匙  雲呢哪香油 
¼ 茶匙  鹽 

1)  預熱焗爐至375⁰F, 八寸脫底模塗油及粉,再放一張焗爐紙,備用。
2)  用微波爐溶朱古力。
3)  打發牛油及半份糖至鬆軟及顏色轉淡白,加入栗子蓉,攪勻,加蛋黄,每次二隻,打發至鬆軟,最後加入朱古力溶液,攪勻。
4)  用另外一個碗打發蛋白,加鹽打至發白,加入剩下的糖,再打至企身。
5)  將小小蛋白加入朱古力溶液內拌勻,然後倒回蛋白內,輕手從底刮起,直至完全混合。
6)  倒入焗盤,將焗温降至350⁰F,焗15分鐘,再降爐温至325⁰F,焗多30-35分鐘。直至用竹籤刺入,沒有蛋糕佔上的便成。
7)  將爐火關上,門打開小小,讓蛋糕在內慢慢降温30 分鐘,然後再取出放架上待冷至室温。
8)  將蛋糕切成二片,將1/3栗子奶油塗勻,再放上第二片,將餘下奶油塗上,再放朱古力蛋白條在旁邊裝飾。

栗子奶油

1 杯  奶油 
¼ 杯  糖霜 
1 茶匙  無味啫喱粉 
4 茶匙  水 
200g  栗子蓉 
2 湯匙 冧酒

1)  將啫喱粉洒在水上,慢慢讓它吸水變軟,放微波爐內溶。
2)  奶油加入糖霜打發至企身,加冧酒。一邊打,一邊加已溶啫喱溶液,再加入栗子蓉,攪勻。

朱古力蛋白條

六隻  蛋白 
半杯  無糖唂古粉 
半杯  糖霜 
少許  他他粉 
半杯  糖 

1)  預熱焗爐至300⁰F。
2)  蛋白加他他粉打發至白,加糖再打至企身。
3)  唂古粉加糖霜拌勻,加入已打發蛋白內,輕手拌勻。
4)  放入袋內,唧出長條形,焗一小時至乾身。

注意事項:

1)  這款蛋糕是沒有麵粉的,所以蛋白要打至企身,才可以支撐蛋糕的結構。
2)  我喜歡用微波爐去溶朱古力,快捷方便。

3)  我用的苦甜朱古力,唂古含量是72%。

4)  打發奶油要注意温度,奶油及碗都要很凍才容易打起。

5)  無味啫喱粉是用來穩定奶油的,要一邊加一邊打奶油,否則很易因温度降低而成粒狀。