Alternate for Chestnut Puree in Easy Action Cake

Asked by raseeka.lotlikar. Answered on 5th December 2015

Full question

I would like to make Nigella's Easy-Action Christmas Cake, however I live in India and not sure if I can find chestnut puree here. Can you suggest a substitute?

Our answer

Unfortunately there is not really a good alternative for the chestnut puree used in Nigella's Easy-Action Christmas Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website). Chestnuts are lower in fat than some other nuts so substituting a nut butter of hazelnut spread could cause the cake to become a little oily. The sweetened chestnut puree is sometimes called chestnut spread. You may be able to find it on-line and it is worth searching for the Clement Faugier brand.

Otherwise you may like to look at Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake (from Feast and on the Nigella website) which is made with a similar method. This is called the "boil and bake" method where the fruits and liquid are brought to the boil and simmered, then cooled slightly before mixing with the rest of the ingredients. These cakes do not require the fruits to be soaked in advnace and also are very moist cakes so do not require "maturing", and can be made much closer to Christmas.