This week’s TWD recipe is another rich cake – Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake, and was chosen by Katya of Second Dinner. I have to admit yet again, that this is a cake that I would have by-passed if I wasn’t baking my way through this book. It is a layer cake (layer cakes aren’t as big in NZ as they seem to be in the States) and is a reach concoction of two types of chocolate ganache and chestnuts.
The actual cake is a sponge made with sweetened chestnut paste. For some reason I had a tube of vanilla sweetened chestnut paste in the pantry. I had never used it before, and must have bought it one day, just in case, but not really knowing what I would do with it. The cake is a lovely, light cake as you beat the egg whites separately and fold into the cake mixture at the end. I actually thought that the cake was quite delicious by itself without the addition of the yummy but a bit sickly ganache.
The cake is layered with a caramel milk chocolate ganache made by making a caramel sauce then adding milk chocolate and a little bit of dark chocolate. You then beat in butter once this mixture has cooled. The amount of butter used seemed a lot, so I halved it as the ganache was tasty enough and creamy enough without having to add a lot of butter. The cake was cut into three layers and a good dollop of ganache spread between each layer. You were meant to sprinkle chopped chestnuts over the ganache, but even though it was a chestnut cake, I left them out – it is the wrong season for chestnuts here and the vacuum packed ones aren’t stocked at my supermarket and I didn’t go searching for them at a specialty food store.
The whole cake was covered in a glaze which was essentially dark chocolate ganache. I made ¼ of the recipe which made two little 10cm cakes. I decorated the tops with gold dragees. To be honest I wouldn’t make this cake again as I found the end result to be a bit too sickly sweet. Layer cakes are a bit too much for me unless they are layered with whipped cream.
See if the other TWDers enjoyed the cake more than I did here.
12 comments:
I love your mini cake Tammy. It was difficult to source the ingredients, because chestnuts aren't that big here even when in season, let alone out of season. I enjoyed the end result, but mamma mia - not a diet food!
I'll agree that it would be too sweet with all the additional parts - I just made the cake, and it was lovely as a rich snack cake. Your minis look adorable though!
Very delicious looking there Tammy. I do like thje idea of a layer cake but honestly am put off by all the work there in some recipes.
That's pretty impressive. I can't imagine having a tube of vanilla flavored chestnut paste sitting around. I want to explore your pantry. ;-)
Your cake looks gorgeous. I made a hazelnut version, but will definitely make it with chestnuts.
Wow! You went to a lot of trouble for a couple of minis. They turned out cute though. I was wondering how this cake would look in the round. Nice!
i've been pushing this one off because it seems so fussy. looks like yours came out well, but i'll keep the sweetness factor in mind when i finally do make it.
Sorry this was to sweet for you.
I can't wait to make this one.
I made the cookies for this week.
Love your mini cake. I didn't use all the ganache, or all the glaze so mine, while rich, wasn't overpowering so.
Your mini cakes look great. Many bakers said it was too sweet. Don't know if I will make or not. No chestnuts in my part of the Deep South.
What charming topic
singles summer vacations [url=http://loveepicentre.com/]dating columbia[/url] church of christ singles http://loveepicentre.com/ the singles better than before
Post a Comment