Mont blanc chestnut cakes (petits gâteaux mont blanc)

French chef, Gabriel Gaté introduces the Alpine food of the Savoy region, and talented French pâtissier, Pierrick Boyer, prepares some luscious little cakes garnished with chestnut cream which are named after the Mont Blanc Pic. Sommelier, Christian Maier, matches the dessert with a sauternes sweet wine.

• makes

  6

• prep

  45 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 250 g sweet pastry
• 50 g almond meal
• 50 g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 50 g plain flour, sifted
• 50 g softened butter
• 1 egg
• 6 tsp orange marmalade
• 6 small meringues, the size of a ball of cotton wool
• 100 g sweet chestnut cream (crème de marrons)
• 100 g chestnut purée (purée de marrons)
• 100 ml whipped cream (approximately)

Chilling time: 10 minutes

This dessert requires special pastry equipment, in particular a piping bag fitted with a Mont Blanc nozzle.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Roll the sweet pastry out to a thickness of 3 mm. Cut six 10 cm discs of pastry and line 6 tartlet rings (of 6 cm diameter), placed on a flat oven tray with the pastry discs, trimming the edges neatly.

In a bowl combine the almond meal with the icing sugar, plain flour and softened butter. Add the egg and mix well. Transfer this almond cream to a piping bag and pipe it onto the pastry bases, filling them three-quarters of the way up to the top.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is cooked and golden brown. Allow to cool before turning the tartlets out.

Spread 1 tsp orange marmalade over each tartlet base, then place a small meringue on top.

In a bowl combine the sweet chestnut cream with the sweet chestnut purée. Transfer this chestnut cream to a piping bag fitted with a special Mont Blanc nozzle and pipe it on top of the meringues to cover them well.

Dust the Mont Blanc gâteau with icing sugar.

Spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe a cream rosette on each gâteau. Refrigerate until 10 minutes before serving. Bon appétit!

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.