A high altitude chocolate chestnut cake, made with fluffy and moist chocolate cake, frosted with buttercream swirled with creamy and nutty chestnut paste.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
1cupall-purpose flour,fluffed, spooned and leveled
¾cup + 2 tbspgranulated sugar
6tbspunsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1tbspinstant espresso powder
½tspbaking soda
¼tspbaking powder
½tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
½cupwhole milk,room temperature
½cupsour cream,room temperature
½cupvegetable oil
2large eggs,room temperature
2tbspchestnut spread/paste
1 ½tspvanilla extract
Buttercream
¾cupunsalted butter,softened to room temperature
1 ½cupspowdered sugar
½tbspmeringue powder,optional
⅛tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
1tspvanilla extract
6tbspchestnut spread/paste,divided
Instructions
Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick baking spray.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, then whisk until well distributed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, oil, eggs, chestnut paste and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set the pan on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing on low until combined. Add the vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of the chestnut spread. Increase the speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times.
Spread the buttercream onto the cooled cake. Dollop the remaining 2 tablespoons of the chestnut spread onto the frosting, and lightly swirl it in with an offset spatula, leaving visible streaks in the frosting.
Cut into 9 squares for large servings or 16 squares for small servings.
Keyword Chestnut, Chocolate, Chocolate Cake, High Altitude Cake, One Layer