Mondays We Cook: Chestnut Cake

October 19, 2015

chestnut cake recipe pastel de castañas receta autumn fall otoño

Happy Monday, everyone! Rainy days and autumn leaves set me on the mood for all things fall. For me that means pumpkin spice lattes, hot chocolate and lots of evenings baking at home. Today, I'd like to share a delicious recipe which is perfect for this season. This chestnut cake is just what this weather calls for.

This is what you'll need for a 24 cm mold:

For the short pastry:
200gr of flour
100gr of butter
75gr of powdered sugar
1 yolk

For the filling:
750gr of chestnuts
150gr of butter at room temperature
150gr of sugar
2 tablespoons of sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 eggs
2 egg whites

Directions:

Mix the flour, butter, powdered sugar and yolks to make the dough. Place it in the fridge for one hour.
Preheat the oven at 200ºC
Cut an "x" on each chestnut and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes. Peel the chestnuts.
Put the chestnuts in a pot with a bit of water and boil them for 20 minutes.
Whisk the butter, the sugar, the vanilla and the cinnamon.
Separate the yolk from the egg whites. Mix the yolk with the previous mixture and beat the egg whites to form peaks.
Strain the chestnuts and let them cool down. Then make them purée using a blender.
Mix the purée with the egg whites and add to the mixture of the other ingredients.
Preheat the oven at 180ºC
Spread the dough using a rolling pin and place it in the mold. Bake for 10 minutes.
Fill it with the chestnut purée and bake for 50 minutes.
Decorate it as you wish. I used powdered sugar, fresh berries, mint and some leftover chestnuts.

You may find the process of peeling all the chestnuts kind of tedious -my fingers felt numb afterwards- so unless you are very patient or have a lot of time to spare you may want to buy the chestnut purée and just make the short pastry from scratch.