Christmas Chocolate Chestnut Cake
Chestnuts roasting on a open fire... er... cake! Deliciously decadent chocolate cake layers with a gorgeous chestnut flavor from pureed roasted chestnuts - this cake is sure to put anyone in the classic Christmas spirit!
Ingredients
Chocolate Chestnut Cake Layers
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 2/3 cup sour cream room temperature
- 3 whole eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup roasted chestnuts, roughly pureed into a paste *see notes below on where to easily find them!
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1x 15.25 box Dark Chocolate Cake Mix I prefer the taste and texture of Duncan Hines brand, but anything similar will do.
Chocolate Chestnut Buttercream
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter Left out at room temperature for 10 minutes to slightly soften
- 1/2 cup whole roasted chestnuts, pureed into a paste
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for thinning if needed
- 8 cups powdered sugar
Snowflake Design
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 snowflake cutout (either a snowflake made from paper, parchment, or a felt decoration). Needs to be big enough to fit on the top of a 6" cake.
Instructions
For the Chocolate Chestnut Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, then prep three 6-inch round cake pans with a swipe of shortening and dust of flour to prevent sticking. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, chestnut paste, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Sift in the cake mix and whisk until just combined. Do not overmix. Split the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
- Bake for 30 to 32 minutes, until the center is baked through. Let the cakes cool in the pan for a minute before flipping them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap and chill cakes flat before assembly.
For the Chocolate Chestnut Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter until it’s light and fluffy. Next, add the chestnut paste, cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Whip up to combine and then scrape down the sides with a spatula. Continue to whip until there are no cocoa bits in the buttercream.
- With the stand mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar about a half cup at a time. The buttercream will be thick. Add a little more heavy cream to thin it out if needed (1 tablespoon at a time), and then flip the mixer to high speed and beat for 2 minutes to lighten the color and texture of the buttercream.
Assembly
- Place a cardboard cake round on a cake turntable. Dot a little bit of buttercream in the center of the round and spread it out with an angled icing spatula. Place the first cake layer. Add a layer of buttercream on top and smooth it out with an angled icing spatula. Place the next cake layer on top, then repeat with the rest of the cake layers, making sure to line the layers up evenly. After adding the top cake layer, crumb coat the cake by spreading a thin layer of buttercream around the entire cake. Freeze for 2 minutes to set.
- Using a wooden spoon, beat out any air bubbles in the remaining buttercream. Spread a final layer of buttercream around the entire cake, using a flat cake scraper for clean sides and edges.
- Just before serving, set a snowflake cutout on top of the cake and dust with powdered sugar; remove the cutout to reveal the snowflake pattern.
Notes
If you’re unfamiliar with chestnuts, you can purchase them pre-roasted, shelled, and packaged. I found mine online and found that about 1 cup of whole chestnuts made for ½ cup of chestnut puree. To make the puree, just add the pre-roasted shelled chestnuts to a food processor until a thick paste/puree forms.
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