Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Caramel Chestnut Cake

Today is my dad's 60th birthday and to celebrate we had a big family bbq on Sunday. You can't have a birthday party without birthday cake and this week's TWD pick was perfect!

Chestnuts aren't at all common in Australia. My only experience with them prior to this was in Paris as a 17 year old, and what an eye opener that trip was for a budding foodie! One freezing cold day while wandering through the streets we came across a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts in paper bags. I still remember the rustle of the bag, the warmth and delicious taste of those chestnuts.

Here I had to make do with tins of chestnuts and unsweetened chestnut puree (which I sweetened by blitzing it with 3 ts vanilla extract and 3 tbs of sugar) sourced from a local deli.

This cake is definitely not for the faint of heart, with 1/2kg butter, 1/2 litre of cream and almost 3 blocks of chocolate. It didn't rise as much as I expected so I only sliced it into 2 layers instead of 3. Still managed to use all of that delicious ganache though!

The taste test ...

One word - RICH. Dorie said it serves 16 but I think you could double that easily. There aren't too many times where just 1 piece of cake is enough but this was it. The flavour of the cake itself was absolutely sensational and I will definitely make it again, just without all the chocolatey excess.

It was the perfect finish to a fabulous lunch of roast pork loin cooked on the bbq, lots of salad, breads, cheese and drinks. We just didn't eat much else for the rest of the day.

Thanks for a great pick Katya! You can find the recipe on her blog here.

12 comments:

  1. Your cake looks wonderful! It sounds like the perfect thing to make for a special occasion like a birthday.

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  2. Susan--your cake looks divine! Can't wait to make this one. Good to know about the richness--this recipe sounds very decadent!

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  3. It looks lovely Susan. I am with you on the rich but delicious.

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  4. This was definitely something that you only needed a small slice of - even without all the bells & whistles! Yours looks fantastic!

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  5. I can tell it's rich just from the picture. It looks SO yummy!

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  6. Looks amazing! I'm making this one last, I did the cookies this week :)

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  7. Wow the cake looks perfect and the layers look just right with that thick ganache- yum!

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  8. I plan on making this for Thanksgiving here in the States.

    I have tried chestnuts and I don't like them, so I'm gonna use something different.

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  9. Your cake looks delicious! I made it last week and loved it! Your crisp, from last week, looks great too!

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  10. Yum the cake looks very good. Was it really moist or not? I can imagine all that chocolate made it rich in taste. I made the bundt cake and it was a winner!

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  11. Wow, beautiful cake! I agree, it was very rich! I hope your dad enjoyed it.

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  12. It does look dense and delicious. Hope your dad had a wonderful birthday.

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