Pastel de castañas y vainilla sin gluten

Ingredientes

• 100 g of honey, runny
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 40 g of unsalted butter
• 75 g of chestnut flour
• 25 g of ground almonds, or hazelnuts
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 dash of vanilla extract
• 125 g of mascarpone, full fat
• 125 g of chestnut purée, sweetened
• 250 ml of double cream, softly whipped
• 1 dash of vanilla extract
• icing sugar, sifted and added to taste

Preparación

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

2. 2

   Whisk the honey and egg yolks together to the ribbon stage – pale, thick and creamy. This will take a good few minutes with an electric whisk, so be patient

3. 3

   Mix in the melted butter then fold in the ground almonds/hazelnuts and chestnut flour. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks form

4. 4

   Use a large metal spoon to fold in the egg whites – be careful not to knock out the air in the batter. Divide the mixture between 2 20cm sandwich tins and bake for 35–40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean

5. 5

   Once baked, pop the cakes, still in their tins, on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely. Slice each cake horizontally in half

6. 6

   For the filling, simply mix together all the ingredients with a fork. Don’t be tempted to get your electric whisk out here or your mascarpone will become unusably runny

7. 7

   Layer your cake up with generous spreadings of the chestnut mascarpone. You can add a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds or a dusting of cocoa for an extra touch of glamour, if you fancy