![Galette de Rois -King's Cake with Red Bean Paste and Chestnut (15446872943)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Galette_de_Rois_-King%27s_Cake_with_Red_Bean_Paste_and_Chestnut_%2815446872943%29.jpg)
Chestnut cake is a
cake
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
prepared using
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
s. Chestnut flour prepared from cooked, ground chestnuts are used in its preparation, along with additional typical cake ingredients. It is sometimes prepared as a
chocolate cake. Chestnuts are sometimes used in a frosting or glaze atop the cake, and it may be garnished with cooked or candied chestnuts. It can be prepared as a gluten-free dish.
Overview
Chestnut cake is prepared using chestnuts as the main ingredient. Chestnuts are ground into a flour for its preparation.
Higher quality chestnut flours for use in cake preparation may be white, rather than darker in coloration, the latter of which could be due to the chestnuts being incompletely peeled prior to grinding.
Chestnut cake can be prepared using wheat flour, with chestnut pieces used inside of the cake.
Additional ingredients may include typical cake ingredients such as flour, sugar, eggs and leavening.
Chestnut cake may be prepared as a
chocolate cake, and also as a
layer cake It has a distinct chestnut flavor.
It is served as a dessert cake,
and some versions are topped with
icing,
ganache or
whipped cream
Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...
.
Chestnuts may be included in the icing or frosting, such as in a chocolate-chestnut frosting.
Candied
Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type of ...
or cooked chestnuts may be added atop the cake as a garnish.
Distilled beverage
Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...
s such as
brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
and
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...
may be used as an ingredient in the frosting or icing.
It may be prepared as a
gluten-free
A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...
dish using chestnut flour and rice flour.
File:Chestnut cake side view.jpg, A well-done chestnut cake
File:Gugelhupf cake with Chestnuts.jpg, A gugelhupf cake with chestnuts
See also
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Brazil nut cake
Brazil nut cake () is a cake prepared using Brazil nuts as a primary ingredient. Coffeecake, shortcake, pound cake, fruitcake, brownies and torte cake may be prepared using Brazil nuts as a main ingredient. Ground or chopped Brazil nuts may be use ...
*
Chestnut pie
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List of cakes
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Water chestnut cake
References
Further reading
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{{Cakes
Cakes
Chestnut dishes
French cakes