Mont Blanc Cake (Chestnut Cream Cake)

Mont Blanc cake (chestnut cream cake) is a signature French dessert made with crunchy meringue, whipped cream, and chestnut vermicelli. "Curious" and elegant, this meringue cake makes every bite mouthwatering.

Famous cake Mont Blanc... It is named after the highest mountain Le Mont Blanc in the Alps, meaning"white mountain" in French. Sprinkled with icing (powdered) sugar, it really resembles a snow-capped mountain.

Mont Blank cake is a combination of the "riot" of chestnut vermicelli, slightly sweetened whipped cream, and the crunchy meringue.

I have been thinking of making a Mont Blanc recipe since I accidentally watched a video on piping the chestnut vermicelli. 

I need to admit that it is fun to make and, more pleasure, see how the cake is being swept out of the serving plate within minutes.

The "chestnut mess" as an unusual appearance of the cake makes a deal for guests. Tasting the cake, one of my friends said, "I like new experiments!"

Well, I love to experiment in baking too. That is why this chestnut cream cake is on the blog.

Mont Blanc origin

The chestnut puree dessert made with whipped cream and meringue has an Italian origin, but in the 17th century, it became famous in France.

Mont Blanc cake, or Mont-Blanc gateau in French, has been a signature dessert served at the Parisian tea shop Angelina since 1903. Later, in the 2010s, many French chefs created different variations of this dessert.

It is the most popular French dessert in Japan, where pumpkin, squash, and other puree are used instead of chestnut.

What is chestnut cream?

Chestnut cream or crème de marrons in French has been a specialty of the French Ardèche since 1885. It is made from broken candied chestnuts, sugar, and vanilla. 

The French use it as a spread for the morning toast or add to yogurts and cottage cheese instead of white sugar.

Chestnut cream is also used to make this famous French Mont Blanc dessert, French Saint-Honoré, or Italian tiramisu with chestnut cream. It is ideally paired with sweet red wine.

According to Cuisine et Vins de France,

The chestnut cream goes with everything and comes to enhance the simplest preparations. 

Why you should try this recipe

1. Mont Blanc recipe is gluten-free and is perfect for serving to everyone.
2. This classic French pastry combines three textures: crunchy meringue, smooth and creamy whipped cream, and sweet, nutty chestnut vermicelli.
3. It has the right balance of sweetness.
4. The recipe is easy and fun to make, especially with kids. They like to help decorate the cake.
5. The cake is so elegant that it is perfect for a birthday party and a bridal shower.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Egg whites: using an egg separator, separate egg whites with the yolks while the eggs are chilled. Then let the whites get to room temperature before you start.

Sugar: the recipe calls for caster sugar or superfine baker's sugar. To make superfine sugar out of granulated sugar, process it in a food processor for s few seconds.

Icing sugar: make it at home using a coffee grinder or use powdered sugar.

Chestnut puree: use unsweetened chestnut puree. It is one of the cake's stars, and it cannot be replaced with another puree.

Chestnut cream: it is another French ingredient to make chestnut cream.

Dark rum: replace it with cognac if desired.

Whipping cream: use your favorite brand of whipping cream with at least 30% fat content.

How to make Mont Blanc cake

Preheat the oven to 185 F/85 C. Use a pencil and draw five circles (6-inch/16 cm, 5-inch/13 cm, 4-inch/10 cm, 3-inch/7 cm, and 2-inch/5 cm in diameter) on two sheets of parchment paper. Turn them over and place them on two baking sheets.

To make the meringue, whisk egg whites with an electric mixer or a stand mixer until stiff.

Gradually add the caster sugar and beat to get glossy meringue (photo 1). Finally, add icing (powdered) sugar and gently mix with a rubber spatula (photo 2).

Place the meringue in a pastry bag with Ateco plain pastry tip 806. Pipe 4 meringue dots in the corners of a baking sheet and place parchment to fix it.

Pipe five meringue disks as spirals over the drawn circles on parchment paper (photos 3-4). Bake for 2 hours and then let cool.

To make whipped cream, whisk whipping cream with icing (powdered) sugar until firm (photo 5). Place ⅔ of the cream in a pastry bag with Ateco plain pastry tip 806.

To assemble the cake, place the largest cooled meringue disk on a cake board or a serving plate.

Push whipped cream in a spiral using a pastry bag with Ateco plain pastry tip 806 (photo 6).

Place the second disk (5-inch/13 cm in diameter), garnish it with whipped cream. Continue the same way for the last three disks (photo 7).

Use the rubber spatula and cover the cake with the remaining whipped cream. With a bent spatula, smooth the cream from bottom to top. 

To make chestnut cream, using a mixer, mix chestnut puree, chestnut cream, and dark rum until homogenous (photo 8). Pass the cream through a fine-mesh sieve.

Transfer the cream to a pastry bag fitted with a vermicelli tip or a bird nest pastry tip (photo 9). 

Pipe the chestnut vermicelli in overlapping circles to cover the cake's entire surface (photo 10).

Decorate with gold sugar pearls. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Right before serving, sprinkle the cake with icing (powdered) sugar.

Expert tips

1. 100 g egg whites approximately qual 3 raw fresh egg whites from large size chicken eggs.
2. Replace caster sugar with superfine sugar. Process granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds to make it superfine.
3. Pipe meringue kisses with the remaining meringue placing them around meringue disks.
4. Use Wilton tip 3, Alteco tip 2, or even larger Alteco piping tips 4 to 8 instead of vermicelli tip if you cannot find that special tip. Ideally, use a 2- to 3-mm plain round tip.
5. Do not over-pipe the cake with chestnut cream (you might not use all the cream) to prevent vermicelli from sliding down.
6. Decorate the top of Mont Blanc cake with a candied chestnut if desired.
7. Mont Blanc dessert is best served within a few hours since chestnut cream tends to dry out on top of the cake.
8. Serve the cake with sweet wines, for example, French wines Rivesaltes or Banyuls.

Frequently asked questions

Love meringue cakes? Try these next!

• French Meringue Cake Merveilleux
• Chocolate Concorde Cake
• Rosewater Meringue Roulade
• Browse all the Cake Recipes

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from http://www.marieclaire.fr and https://www.cuisineactuelle.fr. It was originally published on March 03, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.