Chilli Chocolate Chestnut Cake
A rich truffle-like cake with a subtle chestnut flavour. This recipe for chilli chocolate chestnut cake produces a loaf that’s both dense and paradoxically light in texture. It’s flourless and thus naturally gluten-free. The chilli is optional, but highly recommended as it gives a gentle lift to this lush chocolate experience.
CT’s blog Radix has just turned one. I needed a celebratory cake for this first momentous anniversary. So, it’s chocolate and chestnuts again. This time with the added bonus of chilli. It’s our own dried and crushed “fatalli”, a particularly vicious yellow variety.
Chilli Chocolate Chestnut Loaf Cake
I adapted an already tried and tested Nigella recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess for this chilli chocolate loaf cake. As I had half a tin of chestnut puree left over from the chestnut biscuits, I made only half the quantity. It still turned out to be a sizeable cake, though we managed to polish it off over the course of a few days.
Usually I serve this cake warm as a dessert when we’re entertaining friends. But I have to say it works pretty well as a cake too. It rose spectacularly, but like most soufflé type concoctions, it sank almost immediately I took it out of the oven. It still tasted delicious though.
The texture is distinctly truffle like, rich and dense yet paradoxically light. The taste is more delicate than one would associate with chestnuts, but none the worse for that. As we only used a very small quantity of the fatalli, a pleasant glow resulted rather than the usual meltdown we normally experience when using this chilli.
All in all this chilli chocolate chestnut cake makes a most acceptable celebratory cake.
Other Chestnut Recipes You Might Like
- Chestnut brownies
- Chestnut cream meringue cake
- Chestnut biscuits with a chocolate cream filling
- Chocolate chestnut log
- Italian chestnut cake
- Mushroom & chestnut sausage rolls with mustard pastry
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Choclette x
Chilli Chocolate Chestnut Cake – The Recipe
Chilli Chocolate Chestnut Cake
Ingredients
- 100 g dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa solids)
- 75 g unsalted butter softened
- 25 g dark brown sugar
- ¼ tsp chilli powder optional (I used a very hot home grown chilli) use an additional ¼ tsp if you want to notice some heat
- 200 g sweetened chestnut purée
- 3 large eggs separated
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp brandy
- 25 g golden caster sugar
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Stir and leave to cool slightly.100 g dark chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the chilli powder.75 g unsalted butter, 25 g dark brown sugar, ¼ tsp chilli powder
- Mix in the chestnut purée.200 g sweetened chestnut purée
- Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, brandy and melted chocolate and stir until combined.½ tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp brandy
- Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the caster sugar and whisk again.25 g golden caster sugar
- Fold the egg whites into the cake mix one third at a time.
- Pour into a 900g (2lb) silicone loaf pan or tin lined with baking paper. Smooth the top down and bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 30 minutes.
- Leave to cool for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.
I’ve got to try this, my mouth’s watering with the thought of it.
This sounds so good, my tastebuds would be in heaven!!! My brother is really good at cake baking & would also enjoy this so Im passing this onto him.
Thank you Wendy, sounds like a great multicultural evening was had. Hope to see the cake on your blog at some point soon.
Aha…. I knew I had spotted that you had the perfect recipe! After a bizarre night out involving Turkish friends, English pubs, a Japanese restaurant and later a French bistro for more wine and chilli chocolate cake… I was telling them about your blog and promising that I would make a cake for them as I knew the perfect recipe! Thanks, Choclette!
This is a lovely recipe. I love no-flour cakes. I once spent ages on the web looking for a recipe like this.
Chestnut puree is a brilliant addition. The recipe I am familiar with, and which I had been searching for, uses ground almonds.
Kath – Glad Waitrose didn’t let you down and have noted you’ve been using that spelt.
FoodyCat – We did raise it from seed and have kept it going 4 years now. It goes outside in the summer and comes in during the winter – have to say it’s looking a bit sad at the moment, but am hoping it will perk up again in a couple of months. We didn’t save any seed this year though, otherwise I could send you some.
Wendy – that’s how I usually feel when I look at your blog.
Ohhhhhhhhh…. *moans with delight* three of my favourite things…..
If I am going to eat chocolate cake, I really like this sort of dense truffley one – Delia’s fallen chocolate souffle is a favourite.
Did you raise the fatalli from seed? We did well with serranos last year but I want to try another variety this year and vicious and yellow sounds excellent!
That sounds like a good way of drying your chillies, glad it worked. Been to Waitrose and stocked up on spelt flour and a lot more besides ( I knew that would happen!). Thanks for the tip. Just a note to Foodie with Little Thyme I spotted chestnut flour in the Special Selection section of my local Sainsburys just this week so it might be worth trying there.
Kath – as it was a particularly hot variety of chilli, I only used about 1/8 of teaspoonful. We dried them these chillies in a rack over our night storage heater in the end, which worked quite well.
Suelle – admittedly not the most elegant of cakes, but I was really pleased with the result.
Katie – as you can probably tell, I’m going through a chocolate & chestnut phase at the moment.
Thank you Dark
Thanks Nic
Foodie with Little Thyme – no I’ve not yet come across chestnut flour although I know quite a few people use it. When in doubt, I usually try the internet.
Chele – sadly stash of chestnuts has now run out!
Brill idea for using up your stash of chestnuts. I know somebody who would love this cake ;0)
I see that you bake with chestnuts a bit and I’ve been looking all over for chestnut flour. Any ideas?
happy birthday Radix – long may you thrive in the blogosphere. N x
This sounds wonderful. I love the combination of chestnut and chocolate together.
Chilli sounds like an inspired addition to the already wonderful chocolate and chestnut combination. Great idea and good looking cake!
This sounds like a fantastic combination. How much dried chilli did you put in ( and what method did you use to dry them in the end?). Radix looks like a whole new world ( and vocabulary).