Black Sugar Chestnut Cakes | Baked with Traditional Black Sugar Powder and Raw Cane Sugar

Chestnut season asks for something baked.

These small cakes are shaped like chestnuts and hide a whole one in the middle. The crumb is soft and full of chestnut paste, the base is dipped in chocolate and crushed peanuts, and the sweetness comes from two of our sugars working together.

The sugar

Traditional Black Sugar Powder (古法黑糖粉) is fine, dark, and full of molasses. Raw Cane Sugar (原蔗糖) is golden and granular, with a clean cane sweetness.

Used together, they balance each other. The black sugar gives the cake its toasty depth and colour. The raw cane sugar keeps the sweetness bright, so the chestnut stays at the front. Both are beaten straight into the butter, which is where the airy texture starts.

Shop Traditional Black Sugar Powder | Shop Raw Cane Sugar

What makes it work

Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy before anything else goes in. Add the egg in stages so the batter does not split. A little rum lifts the chestnut aroma, and the ground almond keeps the crumb tender.

The whole chestnut needs to sit in the middle of each cake, so pipe a layer of batter first, press the chestnut in, then cover it completely.

Recipe

Black Sugar Chestnut Cakes

Ingredients

• Softened butter 90g
• Ship Brand Traditional Black Sugar Powder 30g
• Ship Brand Raw Cane Sugar 30g
• Beaten egg 80g
• Rum 10g
• Chestnut paste 60g
• Cake flour 65g
• Baking powder 3g
• Ground almond 30g
• Whole cooked chestnuts, one per cake
• Chocolate, for dipping
• Crushed peanuts, for coating

Method

1. Beat the softened butter with the black sugar powder and raw cane sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the beaten egg in stages, beating well after each addition so the batter stays smooth. Beat in the rum.
3. Mix in the chestnut paste until even.
4. Sift in the cake flour and baking powder, add the ground almond, and fold gently until just combined. Spoon the batter into a piping bag.
5. Pipe a layer of batter into each mould, press in a whole chestnut, then pipe more batter over the top to cover it.
6. Bake at 170°C for 20 minutes. Unmould while warm.
7. Melt the chocolate over a water bath. Dip the base of each cake in the chocolate, then roll it in crushed peanuts.

Closing

Break one open while it is still fresh and the chestnut sits right in the middle, soft and whole. It is a small bake that feels like autumn.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1987. Shop the collection.