Divine Chestnut & Chocolate Birthday Cake
Ingredients
220ml milk
140g butter
3 medium eggs
150g chopped peeled chestnuts
70g Divine 70% Dark Chocolate
220g plain flour
265g soft brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 level teaspoons baking powder
1 vanilla pod, chopped finely
½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
Method
Preheat oven to 190°C: 370°F: Gas 5. Sift together all dry ingredients. Place the Divine 70% Dark Chocolate and milk into a bowl over warm heated water and allow to melt. Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat the eggs and slowly pour in to the creamed butter and sugar, add 20g of the flour now. Stir in the golden syrup and chopped chestnuts and vanilla, mixing well. Fold in the remaining flour. Gradually add the chocolate mixture to form a thick batter. Pour into a buttered, floured 10 inch cake tin. Bake for1hr. Turn out on to a cake rack grate some more plain chocolate over the top of the warm cake, this will melt and create a lovely topping and now allow to cool. I serve this with crème fraiche and a light dusting of Divine Cocoa Powder.
About the Chef
"Acorn House is proud to use Divine Chocolate in their recipes during Chocolate Week. Not only is their chocolate Fairtrade and co-owned by the Ghanaian cocoa farmers but it is fantastic chocolate too"
With one of the most distinguished careers in the industry, Arthur Potts Dawson’s CV speaks for itself: he has worked at the Michelin star restaurants of the Roux Brothers, La Tante Claire, River Café, the Harrington Club and Cecconi’s for The Soho House group. Jamie Oliver asked him to become executive chef at Fifteen and turn the kitchen into a profit making system. Arthur has now set up his own restaurant consultancy, Bliss Restaurant Consultancy Ltd, from which the concept for Acorn House Restaurant was born. Arthur says of Acorn House, "Our food is centred around the key elements of health, training, community and environment. We hope that Acorn House will be a pioneering force in new restaurant management, which will benefit both the local population and those further afield. The food at Acorn House proves that you can be environmentally responsible - and still eat exceptionally well".
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