This cake here is a lot of effort, I’m not going to lie. It requires chestnut butter which means foraging large amounts of chestnuts, roasting them, then peeling them and processing in a food processor. If you’re not as madly in love with nut season as I am you can use a store brought nut butter or possible a chestnut puree- If you can find one without a large water content- this cake would be divine with hazelnut butter, just sub it wherever it says chestnut butter.

For the sourdough chocolate cake:

Ingredients:
Dry:
1 1/4 cup plain white flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chestnut flour or ground almonds
pinch o’ salt
Wet:
3/4 cup soft dark brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 flax eggs (1 tbsp ground flaxseed whisked with 2 tbsp water= 1 flax egg)
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

1 cup sourdough starter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180c/350f and grease and line three 7″ sandwich tins. Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl, and all the wet ingredients apart from the sourdough starter in another bowl. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then fold in the sourdough. Evenly divide the cake batter between the three sandwich tins and bake for approx 20 minutes. Cool the cakes on a wire rack until cool enough to handle. Carefully remove from tins and peel the parchment of the base of each sponge, then return to the wire racks to cool completely before frosting and filling and frosting the outside.

Chestnut butter frosting:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup chestnut butter (or hazelnut butter for hazelnut butter frosting)
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1-3 tbsp almond milk

Method:
Combine ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth and evenly mixed.

Chestnut cake filler:
Ingredients:
1 cup chestnut butter (or hazelnut butter)
6-8 tbsps almond milk
6 tbsps icing sugar
Method:
Cream the chestnut butter with the vegan milk and vanilla extract. then cream in the confectioners sugar 1 tbsp at a time until you get a nice glossy caramel looking mixture. To fill sandwich cakes I pipe a circle of the butter cream around the top of the cake and spoon the filler into the ring of butter cream. This makes frosting the outside of the cake easier.