Breakfaststories

As soon as the leaves start falling there are little roasted chestnut stalls popping up all over the place. There is one on my way to the train station after working at the market on Saturdays and I’m always so tempted to buy some – sadly they’re quite expensive. But yesterday when I walked past the old man selling deliciously smelling roasted chestnuts again, I just couldn’t restrain myself from buying a bag. So of course I had to incorporate them into my Sunday recipe – and here it is: a hearty and perfectly moist chestnut-caramel-chocolate cake!

Ingerdients

for a 25cmØ baking tin

Cake

2 tbsp chia seeds + 4 tbsp water

150 g roasted chestnuts (approximately 200 g with shell)

150 g sugar

200 g flour

200 g vegan butter or 2 dl oil

3 dl mylk (or milk)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

Glazing

100 g icing sugar

3 tsp cocoa powder

2-4 tbsp water or mylk

Instructions

30 minutes preparation time

Pour the chia seeds and water into a glass, stir and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan function and prepare the baking tin by covering it with butter or parchment paper.

Peel the chestnuts, put them in a bowl and blend them until it has the consistency of sticky flour. Then pour the sugar in a pan and heat it up on a small flame. Let it cook until the sugar has dissolved and then a bit more until it starts getting darker. Pour 1/3 of the caramel on parchment paper, pour the rest over the chestnuts and blend the mixture well (be careful, melted sugar is really hot!). Then add the flour, soaked chia seeds, butter or oil, mylk, salt and cinnamon. Mix again until you have an even batter. Put the batter in the baking tin and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the glazing by mixing the icing sugar and cocoa powder with two tbsp of water or mylk. If it’s to thick, add more liquid. Also check on the caramel on the parchment paper. If it’s not getting hard consider putting it into the freezer to accelerate the process. As soon as it’s hard crack it into little pieces. Works best with a knife.

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool down. Pour the icing over the cool cake and sprinkle the caramel on top. Enjoy!