Gâteau au chocolat et crème de marrons (Chocolate and chestnut spread cake)
This simply yet utterly amazing recipe came from a lovely French friend Aurelia. She is very giving with her recipes, and we are often found discussing food and recipes at length. Now living in NZ, having been born in France, she has a wealth of recipes I've never heard of. This is one of them.
What I still marvel at, with this recipe, is the sum of the ingredients are exponentially more exciting than what you'd expect
100g dark chocolate (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)
100g butter
3 eggs
Approx. 370g chestnut paste (you can buy this at specialty food stores and online) I buy at La Cave or Maison Vauron
2 handfuls of walnut pieces (optional)
Melt butter and chocolate and let cool 2 minutes.
Mix eggs and chestnut paste.
Add chocolate mixture.
Mix well.
Add walnuts and pour into buttered dish and cook between 20-30 minutes @200°
Bon appetit x
My son who has never liked "cake" is a great fan of this dessert, I made it last month for his 15th Birthday (this blog has featured many of his "not cake" birthday desserts over the years)
It didn't look overly celebratory with just candles so I crushed some chocolate coated honeycomb and sprinkled over the top.
We always serve with vanilla bean ice cream
