Chestnut Cupcakes
Last year I posted a recipe for Gâteau Ardéchois (a plain French chestnut cake) and at the time I said that we'd made some iced chestnut cupcakes while in France. Those cakes were based on a Marie Claire recipe but I wanted to try changing some of the flavours and textures of that original to suit my personal taste and, finally after more than a year, this is the result.
Chestnut purée is available in different forms. The type I've used here is unsweetened and not flavoured (many versions have added vanilla). This type is fairly widely available in the UK and is generally thicker than many of the French products. If the purée you use is a little runny, then you may find the baking times increased.
I like these little cakes just as they are – they stay very moist and have that pleasingly different chestnut flavour. On the other hand, if you fancy a topping then something creamy and lemony works particularly well. I used a combination of homemade lemon curd and mascarpone on a few of the cakes for a bit of a treat.
This should make 10 – 12 cupcakes.
3 eggs
100 g caster sugar
60 g flour, sieved
½ tsp baking powder
200 g unsweetened, unflavoured chestnut purée
50 g ground almonds
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is very light in colour. Beat in the flour and baking powder followed by the chestnut purée. Stir in the ground almonds. Pour into cake cases or prepared tin filling them around ⅔ full. Bake for 18 – 25 minutes. The exact baking time will obviously depend upon the size of cakes you make but could also vary according to the consistency and type of chestnut purée that you use.
Decorate when cold if you fancy a topping.
Chestnut purée is available in different forms. The type I've used here is unsweetened and not flavoured (many versions have added vanilla). This type is fairly widely available in the UK and is generally thicker than many of the French products. If the purée you use is a little runny, then you may find the baking times increased.
I like these little cakes just as they are – they stay very moist and have that pleasingly different chestnut flavour. On the other hand, if you fancy a topping then something creamy and lemony works particularly well. I used a combination of homemade lemon curd and mascarpone on a few of the cakes for a bit of a treat.
This should make 10 – 12 cupcakes.
3 eggs
100 g caster sugar
60 g flour, sieved
½ tsp baking powder
200 g unsweetened, unflavoured chestnut purée
50 g ground almonds
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is very light in colour. Beat in the flour and baking powder followed by the chestnut purée. Stir in the ground almonds. Pour into cake cases or prepared tin filling them around ⅔ full. Bake for 18 – 25 minutes. The exact baking time will obviously depend upon the size of cakes you make but could also vary according to the consistency and type of chestnut purée that you use.
Decorate when cold if you fancy a topping.
they look insanely good but then i'm a huge fan of chestnut puree and will use it whenever I can in sweet and savoury dishes. Divine!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good product that, for some reason, isn't used enough. I suppose it's used more often at Christmas but it's useful at any time.
DeleteThese look good, and I have a can of chestnut purée just needing to be used. Love the idea of mascarpone and lemon curd together.
ReplyDeleteThe topping is nice but a little naughty I suppose. You need to use a properly thick curd - there are some very thin lemon curds on the market that might just make the topping too sloppy.
DeleteYour cupcakes look and sound delicious. I don't make them so often these days, but I do have a couple of packs of that very same chestnut purée in the cupboard. As a cake ingredient it somehow seems very grown up and less frivolous, removing the need to invite a few nieces or nephews round as an excuse to bake cupcakes!
ReplyDelete