Ingredients
For the base
- 120 g butter
- 150 g chocolate
- 6 egg yolks
- 6 egg whites
- 110 g of sugar
- 180 g ground almonds
For the chestnut cream
- 300 g chestnut purée
- 100 g of sugar
- vanilla sugar
- ground cinnamon
- 1 shot of STROH 80
- 400 ml cream
- 4 gelatin leaves
- redcurrant jam
For decorating
- chestnut purée
- 1 dash of STROH 80
- simple syrup*
- chopped pistachios
*To prepare simple syrup, combine 100 g of sugar and 100 ml of water in a pot, briefly bring to a boil, and then let it cool. Stored in small bottles, simple syrup maintains its freshness in the refrigerator for several weeks.
Preparation
For the base
- Melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler.
- Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Stir the egg yolks into the melted butter and chocolate.
- Fold the chocolate mixture and the almonds into the egg white mixture.
- Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 150 °C fan.
For the chestnut cream
- Soak the gelatin in cold water.
- Mix the chestnut purée with sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of STROH until it’s smooth.
- Dissolve the gelatin with a bit of cream over a double boiler.
- Lightly whip the rest of the cream.
- Fold the gelatin into the chestnut purée and then fold in the lightly whipped cream in three steps (This serves to loosen up the chestnut purée, allowing the cream to maintain more of its volume.).
For finishing the cake
- Cut the baked base in half.
- Spread red currant jam on the one half and place the other half on top.
- Place an appropriately sized metal cake frame around the base and spread the chestnut cream evenly on top.
- Freeze and then cut into the desired portions.
- To decorate, prepare a piping bag of chestnut purée mixed with rum and simple syrup. Pipe onto the frozen slices and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
