I’m going to call this my snowstorm cake. Not because it
looks like a snowstorm (although a dusting of confectioner’s sugar could take
care of that pretty fast) but because I was snowed in all day this past Sunday
(17.6 inches!), and I wanted to bake.
I had all the necessities—flour, butter, eggs—but I wanted
to experiment with nuts. Except I forgot that my daughter had cleaned out my
nut supply over the holidays when she was visiting. Which left one lonely
little package of . . . chestnuts?
I have never cooked with chestnuts. I bought the package
because I’d never seen it for sale before. Why not give it a shot? I set out to
find a recipe for something baked that included chestnuts.
I came up with some odd and interesting ideas, both sweet
and savory, but the only one that grabbed my attention was a 1999 recipe from
Bon Appetit (I used to love that magazine!) for a cake flavored with maple
syrup. Aha! I had plenty of maple syrup (which I bought in Granby, Massachusetts, from
the Parker family, whose sugar house I visited because I always wanted to see
how maple syrup was made). So I was off to the races.
As you may have noticed, we here at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen
seldom leave a recipe alone—we tinker with it, we swap out ingredients, and we
have fun. That’s true in this case. The original recipe called for mashing up
half the chestnuts and combining them with some of the other ingredients. I
tried, really, I did. These chestnuts, soft and lovely though they might be,
would not mash. I gave up and just threw the chopped bits in (the other half of
them get scattered on top but then disappear into the batter). It all came out
fine.
And wait until you get to the icing part—it’s wicked! And
easy.
Chestnut Cake with
Maple Glaze
For
the Cake:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking
powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-3/4 cups
peeled roasted chestnuts (12 oz) or jarred chestnuts (8 oz)
3/4 cup plus 1
Tblsp light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1
stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (real)
maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
extract
3 large eggs
Preheat the
oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8x8x2 baking pan. [Confession: I
don’t have one, so I used a 9" springform pan, which is roughly the same
volume. It worked fine.)
Sift together
the dry ingredients.
Coarsely chop
the chestnuts. Split into two equal parts.
The chestnuts (they are peeled) |
A single chestnut |
The chestnuts, chopped |
Mix 3/4 cup
brown sugar, butter, maple syrup and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer,
or mix with hand-held mixer. Beat until well-blended.
Add the eggs
one at a time, beating between each.
Beat in flour
mixture. Stir in half the chopped chestnuts.
Spread the
batter in the pan. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chopped chestnuts, and
the extra Tblsp of brown sugar.
Ready for the oven |
Bake for 25-30
minutes or until a tester comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
Remove the cake
from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack.
Baked |
For the Icing:
3/4 cup
powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2
stick) unsalted butter, melted
4 Tblsp maple
syrup
In a small
bowl, blend the powdered sugar, melted butter and maple syrup and beat until
there are no lumps and the icing forms thick ribbons.
Pour over the
cooled cake.
Let stand until
icing is set (about 20 minutes).
My verdict? The
chestnuts have a mild pleasant flavor and add an interesting chewy texture to
the cake. I would make this one again, if I ever find a package (or a jar or
can?) of chestnuts again. The icing I would eat with a spoon any time!
Yes, it does snow in Ireland! Spoiler alert: the snow melts.
Find it for preorder at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
www.sheilaconnolly.com
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have never seen chestnuts in anything but the glass jar. Interesting. Looking forward to reading Cruel Winter.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what to expect. My grandmother was fond of "marrons glacees" which were chestnuts preserved in sugar syrup, and they came in a jar or can, but I thought they were kind of icky. Live and learn!
ReplyDeleteI remember those too!! And never cared for them either!! The icing sounds amazing, I will try this on an apple cake soon!!
DeleteLove, Your Sister
We roasted chestnuts every Christmas when my grandmother was alive. I could go for a piece of this cake right now! I loved Bon Appetit, too, but had to stop subscribing because I had stacks and stacks of them. Same with Cooking Light.
ReplyDeleteI'd almost forgotten, but when I worked in Philadelphia (and walked from the train station to my building) during the winter street vendors would set up small stands and roast chestnuts there, selling them by the bag. I never had the courage to try them, but they smelled lovely.
DeleteSheila, that bag of Geffen chestnuts is not new to me. The supermarket I shop at has them front and center on a display as you walk in the door. Of course there's the fact that this is a KOSHER Supermarket. LOL I'll have to try the recipe (which means sending it to my youngest daughter). I'm looking forward to reading that new series when it finally hits the shelves.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to keep an eye out for them again. Some of the savory recipes sounded interesting too.
DeleteMy father liked to roast chestnut in a cast iron pan (I think). He cut an X in the top of each to keep them from popping, I think. They were tasty.
ReplyDeleteThe street vendors made the air smell wonderful. There was a possibility of the occasional bad one.
Last time I was in Ireland it snowed. And melted. This cake looks delicious. The problem is maple syrup. I never could take much of that but I love maple sugar candy. Go figure.
ReplyDeletePat D
Great tasty fun and unusual, Sheila! You never let us down. Hugs. MJ
ReplyDeleteI've got to try that icing!
ReplyDeleteIt's a keeper! Of course, the flavor depends on your syrup.
Deletesounds good! i'd join you in eating that icing!
ReplyDelete