Chestnut Cake with Pear and Cocoa Nibs

If it’s a contest between apples and pears, I would have a hard time deciding which one I would choose.

I really love them both.  I could go through all the reasons why, but suffice it to say, they are almost interchangeable in so many recipes.  Pears make as good a butter as apples.  Both are fabulous in pies, salads, crisps, in roasts, and even baked.  Both work perfectly with caramel.  And chocolate.  Even as a little girl, I probably gravitated to pears more- maybe it was their shape or their lovely shade of green. (as a child I had yet to be introduced to Bosc or Forelles!)  If someone’s mum offered me pear nectar or apple juice, I always went for the pear nectar.  And then through the years, I always seemed to get the feeling that the pear was the underdog in the unspoken autumn fruit competition.  Maybe that’s why I always leaned team pear.  Root for the underdog!

When I found this recipe in Yossy Arefi’s book, ‘Sweeter Off the Vine’, I knew I it was just a matter of time before I made it.  Not only did it have my favourite fruit, it has my favourite nut.  The chestnut!!  You can read me blather about my love affair with chestnuts on my Chestnut Cream Cake blog post.  There are also toasted walnuts in the batter.   Can you just imagine how good this is going to taste? And when I read her suggestion to add chopped chocolate to the batter, the deal was set in stone.  There is something so very earthy and delectable that happens when you add bittersweet cocoa to pears and chestnuts.  It adds such a depth and richness.  

Instead of chocolate chips though, I decided to go with cocoa nibs.  Have you picked up a bag of cocoa nibs yet?  What are you waiting for?  I use them in sooooo many recipes.  From granola to cookies, to streusel toppings, and even in some meat braises.  Yes, meat braises.  Cocoa nibs contain no sugar.  Just the raw cocoa flavour.  So it has a faint bitterness to it.  But when it is blended with other seasonings and stock, that bitterness is slightly softened and adds a wonderful layer to the final dishes.  Just think molé sauce.  Mexican molé sauce contains raw cocoa powder (unsweetened) but all you remember is the rich, full, decadent sauce with that hint of cocoa but you don’t know why!  Well, now you do.  When I add it to sweet baked goods, the sugar in the recipe makes up for the lack of sugar in the nibs, but that hint of cocoa is still there.  And bonus: you get the added crunch of biting into the nibs!  So they are there for texture as much as they are for flavour.  

Instead of using purchased chestnut purée, this recipe has us creating our own rough version using roasted chestnuts.  You can purchase these in jars, cans, or even sealed bags.  They are simply roasted peeled chestnuts.  I am that person that will just snack on these, plain out of the container.  In this case the chestnuts are added to the bowl of your mixer and combined with sugar.  Think of it as a very rough marzipan that is forming as the roasted chestnuts are combined in your blender with sugar and butter.  It gets fluffy in no time, and then eggs are added.  This batter is truly creamy and light.  At the end you will fold in the toasted walnuts, chopped pears and cocoa nibs.  It is a rather thick batter, but it bakes up quite light.

Now, how to top this lovely earthy, autumn cake?  I really wanted to continue the chocolate theme.  So for my first attempt at the recipe, I used a simple chocolate ganache as a drizzle all over.  I used a Lindt 78% bar chopped, and some cream heated to create the ganache. And then for an easy drizzle, I poured the cooled ganache into a small sealable sandwich bag.  I cut the tip off of one corner and squeezed gently to get the ganache out in a thin drizzle.  Just go to town- let your inner artist out!  When I brought this in to where I volunteer, so many commented on the flavour contrast of the ganache to the cake.  One friend kept coming back for more pieces:”This is the best thing you’ve ever brought in!”  I’m so glad it got rave reviews.

But what about if you want to have the cake, and not go through the hassle of making the ganache and then drizzling it all over the cake?  Well, I’m giving you an alternate topper.  Yossy suggests just a simple dusting of icing sugar.  Sure.  That’s the easy way.  And it is a classic for a reason.  But I decided that if I was going to do this, I still wanted that hint of cocoa.  So I just combined 2 teaspoons each of black cocoa powder and icing sugar.  And then used a strainer to dust the cake top.  It created such a dramatic top- I was so surprised at the outcome!  But it did exactly what I wanted it to do.  It had the required sweetness from the sugar, but the dark dramatic look of the chocolate, as well as the flavour profile I wanted. 

Bottom line, you have three options for this cake: simple icing sugar, icing sugar blended with cocoa powder, and a chocolate ganache drizzle.  I promise you, you’ll be making this cake often, so try out all three, and let me know which one you like best!

This cake is perfect for breakfast, for snacking, for coffee break, or with tea and friends in the afternoon.  It isn’t heavy at all.  The pears really shine, but the cocoa is definitely a supporting star.  And with the chestnuts and walnuts, it really is a pretty healthy treat.

Love Jen