Chestnut and pecan fudge cake with marrons glacés, pecan crunch and honey ice cream

Serves 6-8 Desserts and puddings

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Method

To make the ice cream, put the chestnuts in a food processor and grind down finely to make a purée. Heat the cream and milk in a pan until just bubbling around the edges of the pan. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale in colour. Gradually pour the hot cream and milk mixture over and stir well.

Rinse out the pan, pour the mixture from the bowl into it and cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for around 8 minutes until the mixture is custard-like and reaches 75C – but no higher or it will curdle.

Add the chestnut purée, honey and miso and stir well, then pour into a bowl and leave to cool completely.

Churn using an ice cream machine until frozen, then transfer to a container and freeze overnight. Alternatively, pour into a container and freeze for 2 hours. Using a fork, dig out
the frozen edges into the slushy centre and whisk with electric beaters until broken up and slushy. Re-freeze and repeat after 2 hours, then re-freeze for 2 hours. Transfer to a food processor and whizz until smooth. Put back in the container and freeze to the texture you want.

The next day, line the base and sides of a round 18-19cm spring form tin with baking paper. In a mini processor, finely grind the pecans and flour together in 2 batches. Mix the butter into the chestnut purée and stir in the pecan mixture.

Separate the eggs into two bowls and add just under half the honey and all the sugar to the yolks without mixing. Whisk the whites with the cream of tartar until the beaters leave a pattern in the foam. Gradually add the remaining honey, whisking constantly until glossy.

Without washing the beaters, whisk the yolks with the honey and sugar until creamy. Beat in the chestnut and pecan mixture and gently fold in the egg white mixture, a little at a time, until an even colour. Tip into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes until the centre feels firm. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack. Put in the fridge, uncovered, until ready to add the topping.

To make the topping, line a tray with foil. Put 3tbsp water in a pan with the sugar and set over a low heat to dissolve. Increase the heat and keep watch until the syrup starts to turn a rich golden colour. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter. When it stops foaming, mix in the pecans and marrons glacés or chestnuts.

Spread on the prepared tray and leave to cool. When hard, chop and use to decorate the cake. Serve with the ice cream.