This rich, flourless, chocolate torte is perfect as a Christmas dessert with its addition of chestnuts, which bring a festive flavour!
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Yields:
12
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
40 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 10 mins
Cal/Serv:
563
Ingredients
200g
unsalted butter, chopped, plus extra to grease
100g
cooked chestnuts
200g
caster sugar
200g
dark chocolate, chopped
200g
ground almonds
6
medium eggs, separated
To finish
300ml
double cream
1tsp.
vanilla bean paste
1Tbsp.
icing sugar, sifted
1tsp.
cocoa powder, to dust
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease and line a 23cm (9in) round springform tin with baking parchment.
Step 2In a food processor, whizz chestnuts and 25g (1oz) of the sugar to a smooth paste; set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a large pan over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly before stirring through the chestnut mixture and ground almonds.
Step 3Beat remaining sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl with a handheld electric whisk until pale and fluffy, about 5min. Add chocolate mixture and fold in with a large metal spoon.
Step 4Using clean beaters and in a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks. Fold whites through chocolate mixture. Scrape into lined tin, level gently and bake for 40min, or cake is risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool completely in tin.
Step 5To serve, whip cream, vanilla and icing sugar using a handheld electric whisk until soft peaks. Transfer cake to a cake stand or plate, peel off baking parchment and spoon on cream. Dust with cocoa powder and serve in slices.
Get ahead
Make cake up to a day ahead. Once cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature. Complete recipe to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).