Chocolate Chestnut Meringue Cake

Birthdays. Like Starbucks coffee, Harry Potter and the musical oeuvre of Lady Gaga, I have always found them to be slightly overrated. The only birthday I’ve ever really found myself getting excited about was my 21st which started with me drinking too much champagne on a train to Newcastle, and ended with me falling arse over tit down a hill whilst dressed as a PacMan ghost. Unfortunately, seeing as I’m turning the grand old age of 29, I fear I may be too old for that kind of thing nowadays.

As it is, I have learnt to lower my expectations when it comes to the annual celebration of the day of my birth. After all, what are birthdays but just another day – albeit another day where your parents call you up to cry and tell you the story of your birth (I was two weeks late, had to be pulled out with a pair of forceps, and the consultant told my Mum off because I’d made him miss Coronation Street). The best thing about the whole affair in my opinion is that they give you an excuse to legitimately drink during the day (I like to do my daytime drinking in the bath fact fans) and eat cake. Lots and lots and lots of cake.

Lets face it – most birthday cake is rotten. It’s usually too dry, covered in globs of disgusting buttercream and tastes like a one way ticket to a hypoglycemic coma. In my opinion, it’s high time it had a makeover. And what better way to reinvent the birthday cake by turning it into a Chocolate Chestnut Meringue Cake?

This cake is everything a dessert should be – a rich, flourless chocolate truffle cake topped with a firm, chewy, toothsome meringue. I had a tube of Créme de Marrons (aka sweetened Chestnut paste) that I’d found being sold for 99p in my local deli so I decided to throw that into the mix as well – lending the cake a nice nutty sweetness which cut through the denseness of the chocolate. I also finally relented and finally invested in a hand mixer which I found being sold for £6.00 in my local ASDA. Seriously people, if you don’t own one of these, I highly suggest that you go out and buy one as soon as you can. They’re amazing. All I want to do now is meringue the shit out of everything in sight.

As it is, I’ll just be content to bask in the gorgeous meringue joy of this cake instead – a cake which tasted pretty bloody good half an hour out of the oven, and even better the next day when all the flavours had melded together to form a slice of fudgey chocolatey delight. Birthdays may be overrated, but this cake certainly isn’t.

CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT MERINGUE CAKE

Adapted from Tartelette

You will need

For the cake:

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 130g firmly packed light-brown sugar
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 200g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70% Cacao), melted and cooled
• 80g Chestnut Puree
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 tablespoons spiced rum
• A pinch of salt

For the meringue:

• 50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 4 large egg whites
• 150g white sugar

Make It!

Bake that cake

• Cream the butter and brown sugar until pale and smooth. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bottom and sides of your bowl with a spatula if necessary. Add the melted chocolate, vanilla essence, chestnut puree, rum and salt. Mix well until fully combined combined.
• In a clean mixer bowl, beat the 6 egg whites until they have turned fluffy and soft peaks can be formed on top. Fold one-third of the egg whites into chocolate mixture and combine well. Fold in remaining egg whites, pour the cake batter into a well greased cake tin, and bake 25 minutes on Gas Mark 4/180 degrees centigrade. The cake is done when it looks  as though it has only just firmed up – don’t worry if a skewer doesn’t come out clean so long as it’s not too gloopy with uncooked batter.

Slam that meringue:

• Combine the chopped chocolate and cornflour in a small bowl, and set aside. Place remaining 4 egg whites in a clean mixer bowl and beat with a hand mixer on a high speed until they turn thick and frothy. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes.

Assemble and Finish:

• Remove cake from oven. Using a large offset spatula, spread meringue mixture on top of cake using as little strokes as possible not to deflate the meringue, and return to oven. Bake for around 25 to 30 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned and crisp, Let the cake cool for around 30 minutes, before slicing and serving.

Malteser Birthday Cake

When I asked Mr. Cay what kind of cake he’d like for his birthday, his answer was simple; “any cake, so long as it’s chocolate.” Which was fine with me until he added the proviso “and it needs to be PROPER chocolate too – not some of that 90% cocoa spiked with sea salt, chillies and lime you’re so fond of.” Ah. That was me told then.

In circumstances such as these, I’m forced to put my thinking cap on and think of all the different types of sweet treats that my other half is so fond of. A few years ago, I made a Konditor-and-Cook inspired Curly Whirly Cake for his birthday – a great monstrosity of a thing laden in sickly-sweet cream cheese icing studded with huge pieces of curlywurly bars. Once it was made; I stood back, admired my handiwork and attempted to pat myself on the back with my palette knife. Then I ate a slice and realised it was a one way ticket to type 2 diabetes. Whilst a birthday cake should always be delicious, it really shouldn’t be deadly – after all, no one wants to fall into a sugar coma on their special day.

For a while, I toyed with the idea of making the world’s largest Tunnock’s Teacake until I realised that I’d never made marshmallow before, and messing with industrial amounts of boiling sugar and liquid glucose in my small kitchen may result in me blowing up both my worktops and myself.  I was about to give up all hope and just stick a few candles into a Victoria sponge when, whilst munching on a bag of Maltesers, it hit me. Malteser Cake. Hallelujah.

I found this recipe for Malteser Cake on the lovely Afeitar’s blog, and may I just say, it’s possibly one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever baked. Mainly because it actually manages to taste like a giant malteser – from the Horlicks infused sponge, to the chocolate buttercream which is encrusted in a large layer of crushed malty goodness. It also looks pretty bloody impressive too – but then again, who can fail to be impressed by a massive sponge cake covered in rich chocolatey icing?

This is the kind of dessert you make on a lazy Sunday afternoon, with warm sunlight streaming through the window and good music on the stereo. Yes, your kitchen will look like someone decided to hold a dirty protest in there afterwards, but it’s well worth it. When I presented the finished article to Mr. Cay, he devoured his slice in record time before happily declaring it to be “the best birthday cake he’d ever had.” Which, I hope, more than made up for the fact that I’d managed to reduce the value of our house by splattering every avaliable surface with cocoa powder.

MALTESER CAKE (Recipe makes 8-10 slices)
Recipe adapted from Afeitar

You will need:

For the cake

• 150g soft brown sugar (muscavado sugar is best for flavour)
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 175ml milk
• 15g unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons Horlicks powder (or ovaltine)
• 175g plain flour
• 25g cocoa, sieved
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the icing and decoration

• 250g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon cocoa (I used Green & Blacks)
• 45g Horlicks
• 125g soft unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 2 x 37g packets Maltesers

Make it

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/170C. Butter and line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking parchment.
2. Whisk together the sugars and eggs until light and frothy. Heat the milk, butter and Horlicks powder in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling. Beat the milk mixture into the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the dry ingredients thoroughly. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, by which time the cakes should have risen and will spring back when pressed gently. Let them cool on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then turn them out of their tins.
3. Once the cakes are cold, you can get on with the icing – I used my stick blender for this, but it’s probably easier to use a food processor if you’re lucky enough to own one! Put the icing sugar, cocoa and Horlicks into a large bowl, and blitz to remove all lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape all the excess off, and then blitz again, pouring boiling water down the side of the bowl until you have a smooth, glossy buttercream.
4. Sandwich the cold sponges with half of the buttercream, and then ice the top with what is left, creating a swirly pattern rather than a smooth surface. Stud the outside edge with a ring of crushed Maltesers (I mashed mine up in my trusty pestle and mortar and it was great fun) – these will also help to patch up any holes, lumps or missed patches of icing. Use any leftover maltesers to decorate the top of the cake – I used around one per slice. When you’ve done this, pop the cake in the fridge for an hour or so for the buttercream to set.
5. Serve in large slices, preferably with a cup of something warm and strong (be that tea, coffee, or even Hot Vimto).