Chocolate and Chestnut Cake

Christmas pudding is not to everyone’s taste and I for one am happy enough to not partake in that particular tradition.  For those of us who are not so keen on dried fruit based puddings, but who also suffer from food sensitivities, there is another option.  Chestnuts are such a wonderfully versatile ingredient.  Being both packed full of flavour and Christmas spirit it seemed only right to make something of them for this coming season.  I like to throw cooked and peeled chestnuts into bakes, rice dishes, salads and even pasta but it is only on rare occasion that I use their sweetly made sister, crème de marrons.  It is, essentially, a sweetened chestnut puree, usually with the addition of both sugar and vanilla.  The result is an intense and velvety mixture which possesses not the subtlest of hints of decadence.  I have known some rather incredible ice creams to be made with it and it makes a rather delectable patisserie filling, but in this case I am using it in both the content of a cake and as part of the topping.

This is a truly irresistible cake, although perhaps cake is a little misleading.  It is delicate cake base, almost as thin as a tart, with rich ganache topping.  If you can save room for it, it makes for a wonderful Christmas day pudding.  A small slice of this intensely flavoured sponge and velvety topping is a lovely finish to any celebratory feast.  Knowing that there may be another slice to be had the following day is almost as much of a treat.  Saying that, this really is best served soon after making – it is at its best while still slightly warm from the oven, hence my cheek at calling a cake a pudding.  You could serve it as it is with a cup of coffee, or make more of a meal of it by adding a light pouring of oat cream.  After all, Christmas is a time for indulgence.

You can buy creme de marrons from Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and any good health food store.  If in doubt, there are numerous suppliers on line who will deliver the next day, although perhaps not in our current snow!

CHESTNUT AND CHOCOLATE CAKE

Serves 8

You will need an 8 inch round cake tin with removable base

For the cake

110g Doves Farm gluten free plain flour

150g crème de marrons (sweetened chestnut puree)

110g butter replacement – Pure Sunflower Spread

2 eggs – 4 tbsp ground flax seed, ¼ tsp baking powder mixed together with 6 tbsp water

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

6 tbsp rice milk

A very small pinch of salt

For the ganache

100g crème de marrons

75g dark chocolate – dairy and soya free

Preheat the oven to 170c (150c Fan) and grease and line your cake tin.  Make up the egg replacement by whisking together the ground flax seeds, baking powder and water until blended (note: do not use the extra 1 ½ tsp of baking powder that is needed for the cake), then set aside for a few minutes, the flax will swell up and absorb the water so that you are left with a paste rather than a liquid.

Next, whisk together the butter replacement and chestnut puree until pale, light and fluffy.  Add the egg/flax mixture, a bit at a time, whisking as you go, until fully incorporated into the puree.  Sift in the chestnut flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder then use a large metal spoon to cut and fold the flour into the puree.  Once you have about half of the flour folded in, add the rice milk and continue to cut and fold until fully combined.   Spoon the cake mixture into the tin, level the top with the back of your spoon and bake in the oven for 35 minutes until risen and springy to the light touch – you can always test with a knife point or cocktail stick.

Remove from the oven and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool.  Meanwhile place a Perspex bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water.  Break up the chocolate into the bowl and heat, stirring occasionally, until melted, smooth and glossy.  Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the chestnut puree until combined with the chocolate.  Once the cake is only a little a warm, spoon over the chocolate and chestnut ganache and then serve.

Parsnip and Chestnut Loaf

We live in abundant times.  I know that politically, economically, ecologically speaking we are teetering on very thin ice, but the truth is that we in the west have so much wealth of choice that we don’t quite know what to do with it.  Food is a prime example.  We have more choice and more information than we know what to do with and yet we still struggle to make healthy, viable, sustainable choices on a day-to-day basis.  I am not here to lecture; I am as guilty as the next person for picking and choosing my ethics but I do think that what is needed is a greater balance.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.  That’s what my grandpa used to say and I believe he had a fair point.  Food is a fundamental part of our existence; we need it every day to give us the energy to live.  But eating is also an inherently social act.  It brings together friends, family, even strangers and offers us pleasure and sustenance.  Good cooking finds a balance between creating foods that fuel us while also providing tastes that sate us.  It seems natural, dare I say, organic, that we find a balance between what we have on offer to us and the better choices we can make.

One way to try and strike this balance is to eat with the seasons.  In years passed eating with the seasons was the natural way to source food and yet in this day and age, when you can purchase any fruit and vegetable, at anytime of the year, seasonal eating has lost a lot of its meaning.  This topic alone raises further issues: for example, only 60% of the food consumed in Britain comes from the UK.  This makes us extremely reliant on outside sources and trade, and so in turn we are subject to varying ethics, economy and food standards.  This isn’t to say that trade or import are bad things, but it does raise the question of why we are shipping in raspberries from Chile in December but ignoring our own supply of luscious, ripe pears grown right here in England?  If we all ate seasonally 60% of the time (again, balance) we would be providing ourselves and families with fresher, better quality ingredients, packed full of flavour and nutrition.  I don’t think you can say fairer than that.

This seasonal take on a nut roast is a brilliant vegetarian Christmas option – the meatiness of the chestnuts is offset by the sweet-sharp tang of the cranberries and the honey sweetness of the parsnips.  It is so delicious that I think you’ll find everyone tucking in, carnivore or no.  Serve with all the roast trimmings and a good dollop of cranberry sauce.

PARSNIP AND CHESTNUT LOAF

Serves 4 - 6

You will need a 1lb loaf tin for this recipe

500g parsnips

200g cooked and peeled chestnuts

100g cooked rice

50g dried cranberries

50g walnuts

1 onion

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

½ tsp mace

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 180c (160c Fan) and lightly grease and line your loaf tin.  Peel the parsnips and cut into 1cm cubes.  Place the parsnips in a roasting tin with 1½ tbsp of the olive oil and the honey.  Mix until well coated, season and then cover the tin tightly in foil.  Bake in the oven for 35 minutes until the parsnips are tender to a knife point but not crisp.  Once cooked, remove from the oven and set aside.

While the parsnips are cooking, peel and finely chop the onion.  Add the remaining olive oil to a frying pan and gently sauté the onion until very soft – this will take around 15 minutes.  Finely chop the walnuts, cranberries and chestnuts (alternatively, you can blitz them in a food processor) and place in a large mixing bowl. 

Turn up the heat of the oven to 200c (180c Fan).  Now take half the parsnips and mash them with a fork until they make a rough puree.  Add the softened onion, roast parsnips, cooked rice, mace, thyme and the mashed parsnips to the walnuts, cranberries and chestnuts.  Season well and then, using your hands, spend a good few minutes smooshing the ingredients together until they bind into one large ball of mixture – you can be fairly rough with it at this stage.  Place the mixture into your loaf tin and pack down so that it fills every corner.  Smooth over the top and then cover with foil.  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes then allow to cool slightly in its tin before turning it out on to a serving dish or board.