A chestnut in syrup and covered with a sugar glaze: this is the famous recipe for marron glacé, the typical Piedmontese autumn dessert.
Using the slow and careful preparations called for in the age-old recipe, the chestnut becomes soft, sugary and luscious, perfect for treating loved ones to a moment of absolute sweetness.
Gerla 1927
At Gerla 1927, a historic pastry shop based in the heart of Piedmont’s Turin, customers can find the famous artisanal marron glacés prepared according to the traditional recipe. All the long preparation takes place on the premises of the laboratory in Via Giotto 43 and begins with a careful search for the ingredients: the selected chestnuts come only from the Susa Valley and the Pesio Valley, and must be of medium size, so that they remain soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
Marron glacés are great to enjoy on their own, but even more so when used in pastry recipes such as the signature Mont Blanc dessert, which can also be found at Gerla 1927 in the original Per Elisa version. Executive Pastry Chef Evi Polliotto’s creation consists of a cake made with marron glacé cream, chopped marron glacé, cassis gelée (a variety of wild blackcurrants) perfumed with gin, garnished with chopped marron glacé and a ganache whipped with cream, white chocolate and vanilla, and to finish with marron glacé cream.
Marron Glacé Recipe Ingredients
For the chestnut cake
For the custard
For the vanilla chantilly
Procedure
For the chestnut cake
Beat egg whites with caster sugar. Run the room-temperature butter and sugar in parallel in a planetary mixer with a paddle attachment, gradually add the milk, eggs and yolks and finally the chestnut cream. Combine the two compounds and pour into a stainless steel mold about 18 cm in diameter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 180 degrees.
For the sautéed blueberries with butter and brown sugar
Melt a knob of butter with sugar until melted, then pour the blueberries into the pan and sauté. Pour over the chestnut cake.
For the custard
Combine the sugar with the egg yolks. Heat milk with the vanilla bean cut in half, bring to a boil and add to the yolks mixed with the sugar. Cook until the cream begins to thicken. Remove from heat, mix to obtain a smooth texture and set aside to cool.
For the vanilla chantilly
Whip the cream with the powdered sugar, and when it begins to “write” add the cream and finish whipping. Pour over cake with previously frozen blueberries. Add chopped marron glacé pieces inside the chantilly and refrigerate. Once cold, with the help of a sac à poche finish decorating the cake with marron cream.