Yes, Mont Blanc is a luxury brand and no, I am not referring to that. Today's post is on a less-known cake but utterly delicious - Mont Blanc.
Mont Blanc is a dessert of puréed, sweetened chestnuts and whipped cream. This name is derived from the mountain, Mont Blanc, meaning "White Mountain". This dessert resembles a snow-capped mountain, which explains the squiggly lines on top the cake (and please don't tell me they look like worms or Medusa's hair...)
There a few parts to this cake - a light fluffy sponge cake, chestnut purée (store-bought), chestnut mousse and whipped cream.
(makes 7x6 inch cake)
Ingredients
(A) For Sponge cake
For egg yolk-flour batter
4 egg yolks (large)
20g caster sugar
50g non-flavoured oil (I used Canola oil)
60g milk
1/2tsp vanilla extract (I use Homemade vanilla extract)
90g cake flour
For egg white-stiff peaks
4 egg white (large)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60g caster sugar
For brushing sponge cake
2 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp rum (optional)
(B) For Chestnut purée
1 can chestnut purée (15.5 oz, 439g)
120ml whipping cream
80g white sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 vanilla bean (You can also use vanilla extract)
(C) For Chestnut mousse
200ml whipping cream
40g castor sugar
1/2 portion of prepared chestnut puree (2)
2 tsp rum
(D) Others
80ml whipping cream
Chopped roasted chestnuts
Method
1. Make sponge cake. I made mine in a tray to get a rectangle cake. You need at least 2 layers.
2. Make (B) chestnut purée. Cut vanilla bean along side and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan containing whipping cream, sugar and egg yolk. Cook and whisk constantly till mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and add in canned chestnut purée. Mix till well-combined and sieve. Cover with cling wrap and leave aside.
3. Make (C) chestnut mousse. In a large bowl, add sugar and cream and whisk till soft peaks. Add in half the portion obtained in (B). Mix till well-combined and add in rum.
Tips
If you have a preferred sponge cake recipe, feel free to use your own.
I used 2 packs of 200ml diary whipping cream, President brand in total.
Some of you may be curious to what the ingredients are, how they look like and where they can be bought. Here are some pictures for your reference.
(B) Chestnut purée: I got mine from Cold Storage at Vivocity and I have also seen similar offerings from Mediya at Liang Court. It costs close to SGD10 for 1 can. I have tried to find this from Phoon Huat but they don't carry chestnut purée.
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| My first illustration of layered cake! <3 |
<Update 30/3/14> I made two other variations of the mont blanc using the same base ingredients - chestnut purée and chestnut whipped cream. Will update with more pictures but in the meanwhile, check out my instagram account, @themoodkitchen
Swiss roll mont blanc
Refer to swiss roll recipe.
Tart mont blanc
Refer to basic tart recipe.
Ingredients
(A) For Sponge cake
For egg yolk-flour batter
4 egg yolks (large)
20g caster sugar
50g non-flavoured oil (I used Canola oil)
60g milk
1/2tsp vanilla extract (I use Homemade vanilla extract)
90g cake flour
For egg white-stiff peaks
4 egg white (large)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60g caster sugar
For brushing sponge cake
2 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp rum (optional)
(B) For Chestnut purée
1 can chestnut purée (15.5 oz, 439g)
120ml whipping cream
80g white sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 vanilla bean (You can also use vanilla extract)
(C) For Chestnut mousse
200ml whipping cream
40g castor sugar
1/2 portion of prepared chestnut puree (2)
2 tsp rum
(D) Others
80ml whipping cream
Chopped roasted chestnuts
Method
1. Make sponge cake. I made mine in a tray to get a rectangle cake. You need at least 2 layers.
2. Make (B) chestnut purée. Cut vanilla bean along side and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan containing whipping cream, sugar and egg yolk. Cook and whisk constantly till mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and add in canned chestnut purée. Mix till well-combined and sieve. Cover with cling wrap and leave aside.
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| I am a messy worker... |
4. Make (D) others. In a large bowl, add sugar and cream and whisk till stiff peaks.
5. Assembly. Brush a layer sugar syrup onto sponge cake layer 1. Cover with (C) chestnut mousse. Brush a layer sugar syrup on sponge cake layer 2 and place it over mousse. Pipe remaining (B) chestnut purée on top of sponge cake layer 2. I used a small round tip to create the lines but it took me ages to cover the whole cake. If you don't have a round tip, just cut off the end of the pipping bag and pipe (refer to how to make a piping bag). Cover sides of cake with (D) whipping cream and cover bottom of sides with chopped chestnuts. Decorate top as desired. I used 2 cooked whole chestnuts and 1 piece of Royce dark chocolate.
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| Almost done... |
If you have a preferred sponge cake recipe, feel free to use your own.
I used 2 packs of 200ml diary whipping cream, President brand in total.
Some of you may be curious to what the ingredients are, how they look like and where they can be bought. Here are some pictures for your reference.
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| Canned chestnut puree |
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| Roasted chestnuts |
(D) Roasted chestnuts: I got mine from NTUC. One pack is more than sufficient and is sold at SGD1.40.
This cake was delicious and I will definitely make it again if I had the time. It's a good workout for your arm, especially in sieving the chestnut purée and piping them through this tiny small nozzle. But this also means that you do not need particularly fancy equipment to make yummy cakes at home!
Oh soooo yummy...
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