This is my favorite chocolate dessert of all time, possibly because it is like a giant slice of chocolate truffle heaven. You don’t taste the chestnuts at all, but they give it an extraordinary richness, and it truly is like eating a giant slice of light truffle.
I also love that it’s flourless and only has a tiny amount of sugar. If you force yourself to forget about the butter, this could almost be diet food…
Almost.
It is ridiculously easy. I made this one morning, and left the house with an entire cake intact. By the time I got back, the Smalls has attacked and there was less than a quarter left!
With thanks to High Fearnley-Whitingstall for his gorgeous recipe, which has only been changed very, very slightly.
Reprinted with permission from GOOD TASTE, NAL Books, 2016. By Jane Green. Photo credit: Tom McGovern.
ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and Jane discuss this recipe—and others for the holidays. And read our review to learn more about Jane’s new book.
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter cubed
- 1 cup cooked chestnuts peeled (in jars or cans)
- 1 cup half and half
- 6 eggs separated
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and line and 9” springform cake tin.
- Melt the chocolate and butter together in a pan over a very gentle heat. In another pan, heat the chestnuts with the milk until just boiling, then mash thoroughly with a potato masher (or process to a rough purée in a machine).
- Put the egg yolks in a bowl and mix with the sugar. Stir in the chocolate mixture, vanilla extract and chestnut purée until you have a smooth, blended batter. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them carefully into the batter.
- Transfer the mixture to the greased, lined tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake is just set, but still has a slight wobble.
- If you want to serve the cake warm, leave to cool a little, then release the tin and slice carefully – it will be very soft and moussey. Or leave to cool, when it will have set firm. It’s good to serve it with a trickle of double cream, especially when warm, but it is also delicious unadulterated.
