Samhain Chestnut and Almond Cake

I went a bit nuts today; I went to the woods in search of inspiration for a cake I wanted to create for a long time… I also wanted to find myself, drifting and surfing on long gone memories when we had a family, when we spent October Sundays harvesting chestnuts in the forest back home. I love that descent into darkness, I feel great again, knowing that the clock will go back to its original solar time. I feel restored, in harmony with nature. We didn’t have Halloween, but we had the great “Legends of Death”, gathered from all around Brittany by Breton writer Anatole Le Braz, Anatole “The Great” or so it translates. The first time I read the book, I was 17, and after a couple of chapters, I went to sleep, or rather to bed, I don’t think I closed my eye lids that night… “Samhain” the Celtic origins of Halloween, when the wheel turns, welcoming the darker side of the year… I am aware that a lot of people feel depressed at this time of year, I get it, I sympathise and I don’t go on too much about it. I asked a Scandinavian friend of mine once, on how they deal with six months hardly seing the sun? She just replied: “we live in each other’s houses, we are very sociable folks”. I was humbled… What a great attitude…

I often go to the forest with my dead folks; my mother, my Grandfather, my Grandmother, friends of mine who didn’t make it. They come with me and one day, I will join them in somebody else’s walk; I am cool with that…

But enough with the creepy stuff… Here is the recipe:

You’ll need:

• 6 super happy egg yolks
• 180g of organic cane sugar ( pure from the pure house)
• 125g of Organic Chestnut flour
• 125g of Organic Almond flour
• 220g of grated butter ( stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes)
• 100g of toasted organic almonds
• 100g of roasted Chestnuts
• The zest of an orange

How To:

Before you start anything, make sure to gather your almonds…

You can chop them with a knife or just put them in the blender; they should come out like that picture below; put them in a dry pan for toasting. Like coffee, it is called “dry roast” and it will help developing the flavours…

I am lucky enough to have sweet chestnuts from my friend Roberto in Piedmont; he manages an organic farm called “Prunotto”, a great place! We don’t have sweet chestnuts in Ireland you see, only Horse Chestnuts which are inedible…

I chopped the chestnuts and put them in the pan with a bit of orange zest for a bit of drama…

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and add the rest of the ingredients…

So basically, mix everything together… Knead the dough well, and place in a buttered and floured dish…

Egg wash the cake, hope for the best… Bake at 150 c for one hour…

And so was my day…

Keep Well and eat Happy

Slán Tamall

Franck