A Chocolate and Chestnut Cake For New Year!

As the year 2016 ends and the year 2017 is about to start, it is only fitting to end the old year and start the new with a sweet note. As chestnuts and glazed chestnuts are popular around this time of the year, I was inspired to incorporate sweetened chestnuts with a rich chocolate cake.

This chocolate and chestnut cake is rich, moist and delivers just the right amount of sweetness for New Year's Eve and the day after!

Although the cake will take some time to make, the steps needed are quite straightforward, and the end result is well worth it.

For the chocolate sponge cake you need (4 layers, 15 cm pan):

• 3 small eggs
• 20 g maple syrup
• 180 g sugar (I used 50 g brown sugar and the rest regular white sugar)
• 180 g cake flour
• 10 g cocoa powder
• 10 g baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 150 g butter
• 100 g chopped dark chocolate
• 160 g chestnut butter or spread or cream (whatever you call it) (recipe here)
• 50 g milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• Pinch of salt

First combine butter and chocolate and melt them on a gentle flame. Set aside.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a bowl, start beating the eggs, then gradually start adding the sugar and keep beating until mixture doubles in volume and becomes pale in color. Put your mixer at the lowest speed and add the chocolate and butter, once combined turn off your mixer.

Sift the flour mixture over the batter and gently fold with a rubber spatula. Once combined add the chestnut cream and fold, and finish with the milk.

Divide your batter into four 15cm pans, previously greased and covered with parchment paper (if you don´t have 4 pans just divide the batter in 2, bake the first batch while you keep the rest in the fridge, or use one pan then cut the baked cake in half) and bake for 25 min in a preheated oven (180C).
Once out of the oven, let the cakes cool for 5 min in the pans then remove them and put them on cooling rack to cool completely.

The filling is a made from pastry cream mixed with chestnut cream/spread.
For the pastry cream:

• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup and half milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 30 g sugar
• 1 tbsp of corn starch
• 100 g butter

Heat the milk on a gentle flame. Beat the eggs with the sugar and corn starch. Temper the egg mix with some warm milk, then pour the egg mix into the milk. Continue heating and stirring the cream until it thickens enough. Mix in the butter until well incorporated. 

For the chestnut pastry cream:

• prepared pastry cream
• 250 g chestnut cream

Just combine the two creams until well mixed!

For the assembly:

Spread the chestnut pastry cream on the first cake layer and stack the second one. Repeat the process. Garnish the cake with chocolate shavings. I stacked the cake in a way as to look like a wood log, complete with rings on top and chocolate curls that look like bark plaques as they detach from the trunk.

At the end, I would like to wish to all of you the best and sweetest year you can possible have!