Chocolate Chestnut Cake with Golden Poached Pears

4.25 from 4 votes

This Chocolate Chestnut Cake with Golden Poached Pears is the perfect showstopper to serve at your next holiday gathering.

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Gluten Free

Servings: Slices

Peal and poach the pears by following my poached pear recipe. Let the pears cool and soak overnight in the poaching liquid. Then the next day take them out of the liquid and sit them on some paper towels until you are ready to dip them in chocolate.

Spray 2 6 inch cake tins with coconut oil and coat with a layer of cocoa powder.
Make the chocolate cake following this recipe. Bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes and then loosen them with a knife around the edges and remove from the tins. Cool on a wire rack unitl they reach room temperature. Wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until it's time to decorate.

Make the chestnut cream using this recipe. Take the cakes out of the freezer and cut each cake in half.
To start layering place a dollop of the chestnut cream on to your cake stand and place the bottom layer. This will secure your cake. Then evenly coat the chocolate cake with chestnut cream and repeat until you place the top layer on. Don’t put any chestnut cream on the top of the cake. If you have any excess chestnut cream peaking out of the layers just use an offset spatula to spread it over the sides of the cake. It will start to give a slight naked cake effect. Place the cake back in the freezer to set the filling.

To ice the cake take it out of the freezer and lightly coat the sides of the cake with vanilla. You still want the chocolate to peep through. Coat the top with a light layer of vanilla icing and put it back in the freezer to set. This is key to get that nice drip you see down the side.

Mix the chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl and heat in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it's melted and smooth. Let stand for about 10 minutes or so to get thick.
To get the drip start by pouring the chocolate in the middle of the cake and start slowly pushing it out to the sides until it starts falling over. Repeat until you have your ideal number of drips on the side.

Using the left over chocolate drip, dip the poached pears sideways and arrange them on top of the cake.

Add some edible gold on the pears and the sides of the cake and garnish with the herbs.