Chestnut Ice Cream Cake

To celebrate the Thinking Traveller’s Corsican villas, I’ve created this chestnut semifreddo dessert.  Corsica uses chestnuts in many of their cakes but with this hot weather, I wanted something more refreshing.  This recipe is perfect for the summer but the chestnut purée is definitely still the star of the show.  You don’t need an ice cream maker for this, and yet, you still get an incredible texture for the whipped cream and egg whites. You can make this the day before and it lasts for a few weeks in the freezer.  If you can’t find ground praline then just substitute for more nuts and amaretti. Watch the full video over on @TheThinkingTraveller.

Serve 10

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated

90g caster sugar

390g chestnut purée

420ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Grand Marnier / Amaretto

Pinch of sea salt

Second layer:

180ml double cream

50g amaretti

3 tbsp praline

40g dark chocolate

For the sauce:

75g dark chocolate

150ml double cream

60g chestnut purée

Toppings:

2 handfuls amaretti

2 tbsp praline

1 handful almond flakes

How to Make Your Chestnut Ice Cream Cake

Prep a 9inch cake tin and line with cling film.  Store in the freezer.

Add the egg yolks and sugar into a mixer with the whisk attachment and beat until they become pale.  This takes about 2-3 minutes.  Then mix in 390g chestnut purée, vanilla extract, sea salt and liquor.  Transfer this to a bowl and clean the mixer.

Whip up the 420ml double cream until light and fluffy and add this to a clean bowl.  Clean and dry the mixer once more and whip up the egg whites until they form light peaks.  Gently fold the whites into the double cream.  Then carefully fold the double cream mix in with the chestnut mix a third at a time.  Slowly pour this into the prepared frozen cake tin and freeze for 2 hours.

For the second layer, whip up the double cream until light and fluffy. Crumble 50g amaretti biscuits over the frozen cake and then sprinkle the praline and nuts.  Gently melt the 40g dark chocolate in the microwave and drizzle this over.  Then spread over the whipped cream evenly.  Freeze for another 3-4 hours or until it is completely frozen.

For the sauce, warm up the cream until it just simmers.  Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.  Let this sit for 30 seconds before stirring until it is combined.  Then stir in the purée. Remove cake from the freezer 10 minutes before serving and crumble over more toppings and serve with the chocolate sauce.