Chestnut Trees
in Blossom
Giclee Print
van Gogh, Vincent
Buy at AllPosters.com

La Belle Cuisine - More Chocolate Treats

   Fine Cuisine with Art Infusion

"To cook is to create. And to create well...
is an act of integrity, and faith."

Chocolate-Chestnut Refrigerator Cake

"There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE."
Linda Grayson, "The Pickwick Papers"

Recipe of the Day Categories:

   Recipe Home

   Recipe Index

   Appetizers

   Beef

   Beverage

   Bread

   Breakfast

   Cake

   Chocolate

   Cookies

   Fish

   Fruit

   Main Dish

   Pasta

   Pies

   Pork

   Poultry

   Salad

   Seafood

   Side Dish

   Soup

   Vegetable

   Surprise!

 
Grandmother's Bouquet
Joseph Nigg
Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com

 
Grandmother's Doorway
Art Print
Graves, Abbott...
Buy at AllPosters.com

Chocolate-Chestnut Refrigerator Cake


Nigella Bites:
From Family Meals
to Elegant Dinners,
Easy, Delectable Recipes
for Any Occasion
© Nigella Lawson 2002, Hyperion

“This is another of my maternal grandmother’s recipes and in truth reminds me much more of her than the bread and butter pudding. I’ve changed it a bit, not
least substituting dark rum for her juice and zest of an orange and a slug or two
of Grand Marnier. It’s not that I didn’t like her version, but it was just a bit too
much like a homespun Terry’s chocolate orange for comfort. You do as you please.
This is very much a period offering: from a time of refrigerated cooked loaves of things, sliced at dinner parties and served with dainty fruit salads (my grand-
mother suggested some sliced oranges here, which is of a piece), but it neverthe-
less resolutely deserves a place on the contemporary table. It’s incredibly easy
to make, and dangerously compelling to eat, one of those desserts about which
everyone says ‘it’s very rich’ before going on to third helpings.
I think it needs a smooth, sour blob of crème fraîche alongside: it is sweet; but
the crystallized violets you see adorning the slice opposite [photograph included
in cookbook] are just a sentimental touch. My grandmother loved them, as did
my mother; they are, as it happens, the traditional sprinkling accompaniment to
monte bianco, that gunge-heavy mixture of cream, chocolate, rum and chestnut
purée that – more free-form, less prinked – my mother went in for.”

Makes 10 – 12 slices

18 ounces canned sweetened chestnut purée
3/4 cup soft, unsalted butter
11 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
minimum 70% cocoa solids
3 tablespoons dark rum

to serve:
Crystallized violets
Crème fraîche

Beat the purée in a bowl until it’s smooth, and then add the butter, beating again to make a well-blended mixture.
Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly, before adding it to the chestnut
and butter in the bowl. Beat in the rum, and spoon the chocolate mixture
into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf tin, lined with plastic wrap, in tow batches,
making sure the first layer reaches the corners and sides of the bottom of
the pan before you smooth over the rest. Wrap the overhanging plastic
wrap over the cake so that it is completely covered, and put it in the
refrigerator to set for at least four hours, but a day or so in advance if
you want.
Don’t take the loaf pan out of the refrigerator until you want to eat it,
when you just unmold the cake, cut it into thin slices, decorate with the
violets and serve with crème fraîche or sour cream.
 

Featured Archive Recipes:
Chocolate Chestnut Torte
Chocolate, Orange and Chestnut Pavé
Emeril's Frozen Caramelized Banana and Chocolate Bombe
Craig Claiborne's Rum Chocolate Dessert
Black-Bottom Cappuccino Mousse Cake
 

Index - Chocolate Recipe Archives
Index - Cake Recipe Archives
Holiday Central!
Daily Recipe Index
Recipe Archives Index