It's official: the Christmas season is here! That also means that from now on and until January 1st, you can eat hearty and delicious food without feeling guilty. We're kicking off this culinary marathon with a truly delicious cake that will instantly put you in a festive Christmas mood.
The chestnut-cognac cake with sweet chestnut cream, crunchy Grenoble walnuts, freshly grated lemon zest, melt-in-the-mouth French dark chocolate and a touch of cognac. A gluten-free delight that is sure to cause a real sensation. So, enough suspense, here is the wonderful recipe:
Ingredients:
- 720 g chestnut cream
- 80 g dark chocolate
- 200 g Grenoble walnuts
- 125 g soft, salted butter
- 80 g sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 grated lemon
- 3 tbsp cognac
For the decoration:
- 200 g white couverture chocolate
- 6 cranberries
- 4-8 fresh mint leaves
- 2-3 walnuts
1. First, thoroughly mix the walnuts, chocolate and chestnut cream.
2. Then add the chopped butter, sugar and eggs. Blend the mixture with a mixer until the butter has blended with the other ingredients.
3. Pour the cake batter into a greased springform pan lined with baking paper and then bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C.
4. After baking, the cake should cool for approx. 1 hr and the edge should be carefully separated from the springform pan with a knife.
5. Now the cake is ready for the icing and decoration. Melt the couverture chocolate in a bain-marie and carefully spread it over the entire cake with a knife, starting from the center. The chocolate must now cool for another hour.
6. Finally, as seen in the photo, sprinkle the mint, cranberries and walnuts over the cake. Et voilà!
We wish bon appétit
As a "wine pairing", we recommend a juicy, fruity, dry Espumante from northern Portugal, from the Minho region this time: the Espumante Bruto made from 100% Alvarinho from Domaine "Soalheiro" (sunny place in Portuguese) is a nice, fresh and refreshing contrast to the sweet richness of the cake.
The bottle is available for €17.90, the case of 6 for €100.00.
Click here for the print-friendly PDF version.
Photos and text by Christian Kuhn // www.image-01.com
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The original recipe comes from the food blog https://valentinas-kochbuch.de/. We have adapted it slightly for our purposes.
