Chestnut and banana cake

by Leah Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 350g chestnuts
  • 2 bananas, peeled (250g)
  • 250g brown sugar
  • 100g sour cream
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp instant coffee powder
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • ¼ tsp cream of tartar
  • 1½ cups self-raising flour
  • 2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • candied chestnuts, to garnish

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 170°C. Use a small sharp knife to cut a cross in the side of each chestnut then bake for 20 minutes, until the shell begins to curl. While hot, peel away the shell and the fine inner skin. Grate finely.
2 Mash the bananas, then mix with the brown sugar, sour cream, olive oil, coffee powder, yolks and grated chestnuts. Beat until smooth. Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks, fold in, then spoon into a lined 24cm cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer can be inserted and removed cleanly. Cool on a wire rack.
3 Whisk the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick drizzle icing and spoon over the cake. Garnish with candied chestnuts.