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Rhône-Alpes
In the land of chestnuts, a pot of chestnut cream, eggs and butter are all it takes to make a wonderfully soft teatime cake.
Pastry or bakery speciality from Rhône-Alpes.
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The ardéchois is a cake made with chestnut cream, often flavoured with rum, which those who describe it link to Ardèche. Wikipédia calls it "a traditional dessert that comes from the Ardèche region", Vikidia "a gastronomic speciality of Ardèche". A baking blog sees it as "a family cake born in chestnut country, in Ardèche, where chestnut cream has long been used in cooking", and an English-language blog as a rustic recipe originating from the département.
This is indeed the land of the Ardèche chestnut: according to the official promotional website for French products, Ardèche harvests half of national chestnut production, more than any other département, and sweet chestnut trees have been cultivated there since the 13th century.
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The base ingredient is itself an Ardèche invention. In Privas, the firm Clément Faugier, founded in 1882, makes marrons glacés; in 1885, Clément Faugier is said to have had the idea of salvaging broken pieces of marrons glacés, crushing them and blending them with chestnut pulp, sugar, syrup and a little vanilla: thus chestnut cream was born.
According to a baking blog, it was the industrial production of this cream in Privas from 1885 onwards that made the cake possible: available all year round, it encouraged the appearance and spread of desserts like the ardéchois.
Both its date of creation and its inventor remain unknown: the ardéchois first circulated as a family cake, which published recipes present as simple and homely.
Appearance
A cake baked in a large round tin, sometimes dusted with icing sugar.
Taste
The flavour of chestnut and butter, lifted by a touch of rum; one version adds clementine zest.
Texture
Soft, with a melting centre: in the flourless version, the centre should remain slightly wobbly when taken out of the oven.
eggs, chestnut cream and melted butter, with an optional spoonful of cocoa, baked for around thirty minutes at 180 °C.
wheat or chestnut flour, baking powder, chestnut cream and rum, the recipe given by Wikipédia.
small pieces of marrons glacés and the zest of a clementine in the batter.
sifted with the baking powder in versions that include it, with a splash of rum if desired.
the cake cools until warm before being turned out, and is even better the following day.
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A teatime cake, the ardéchois keeps its softness for a day or two, and for up to two or three days wrapped in clingfilm at room temperature, according to another recipe. It can be sprinkled with crushed hazelnuts, spread or orange zest, or dusted with icing sugar.
Wikipédia classes it among desserts served cold, with a dry white wine — Champagne or otherwise — or a vin doux naturel; Vikidia suggests pairing it with champagne or wine.
No producer is listed for this product yet.