Sunday, July 24, 2011

Chestnut Pound Cake


Ages ago, I bought some chestnut flour from Mediterranean Wholesalers in Sydney Road, with no clear idea what I was going to do with it.   Tuesday with Dorie came to the rescue with this week's recipe, which was chestnut scones, but I noticed that my flour expires in September, so I am going to have to make a bit more than a batch of scones to use it up in time.

Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs mentioned that she had made a chestnut pound cake, which I thought sounded rather nice.  After a quick Google search, I found a recipe for Alice Medrich's Chestnut Pound Cake here.

 



This is a pearl of a cake.  Not only does it contain chestnut flour, but it is also laced with rum.  How good does that sound - a rum toddy and hot chestnuts in front of the fire experience in cake form.

I made the cake in a 10 cup bundt tin instead of two x 5 cup loaf tins, and it worked fine on the same cooking time.  Here's a peek inside:



The crumb of the cake is moist and dense, and it tastes sensational without any adornment whatsoever.  The rum flavour is evident, though not strong.

If you are lucky enough to run across some chestnut flour, do make this cake - it tastes wonderful, and is so easy to make, giving it top marks in my books. 

16 comments:

  1. Lovely! I'm curious about chestnut flour now.

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  2. Looks tasty, and I love the flower shaped bundt pan!

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  3. I am still on the lookout for chestnut flour because I want to make Dorie's scones you posted and now this! I know it must be good if it is Alice Medrich's recipe. And, of course, I would love to have that bundt pan. It makes such a beautiful cake!

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  4. I have never tried chestnut flour, now I'm intrigued. Your cake is a beauty;-)

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  5. This is the second chestnut cake I've seen in the blogosphere tonight - I'm drooling. I adore chestnut in a cake and am loving the crumb texture in your beauty!

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  6. What a gorgeous cake. I love the pan. I've never used chestnut flour, but I'm definitely intrigued.

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  7. Yes! That's the same cake that I made with my chestnut flour. But I have to say, my simple loaves were not as stunning as your beautiful bundt. This is a keeper of a recipe, and when my dwindling supply of chestnut flour is gone, I'm going to have to buy more!

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  8. Hehe snap! Pound cake mania happening here too :) Love the rose tin!

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  9. Good morning, Cakelaw! Thank you so much for the chestnut flour resources. I will definitely check them out. Have a good day!

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  10. What a lovely cake. The ingredients make it really special and set it apart from the usual repeated offerings. This is my first visit to your site, so I've taken some time to browse through your earlier posts. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you feature here and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  11. Sounds delicious--I definitely need to try it!

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  12. Again with the chestnut flour! I've not seen it here in Adelaide, but keep seeing posts on food blogs of people baking with it!
    This looks like a particularly good effort - I love the shape of your cake. I've always wondered if those decorative cake pans work out - looks like they do!

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  13. What a gorgeous cake! Now I definitely want to get my hands on some chestnut flour!

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  14. My world keeps expanding. I've never tried chestnut flour although I would stare at it in our Italian deli. With your endorsement, I will have to pick some up and try.

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  15. this looks great - I have chestnut flour and still haven't made anything with it - hope it is still ok so I can try this one

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