For a season that makes so many people so happy, it’s odd that festive food is so divisive. Turkey is oft-maligned, some people won’t touch a mince pie and others will run a mile at the sight of Christmas cake.

Research from ao.com shows that nearly a quarter of us loathe Christmas pudding and one in five will only tentatively eat it or smother it in brandy sauce or cream.

Great British Bake Off’s Iain Watters, famous for the bingate incident, gives a chocolatey twist on the pud with his Chocolate Chestnut Orange Christmas Cake.

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Chocolate Chestnut Orange Christmas Cake

For the torte:

125g soft, stoned prunes

75g butter

125g dark chocolate – around 60% cocoa

200g puree chestnuts

100ml double cream

Juice and zest of 1 orange

3 large eggs, separated

125g caster sugar

For the Chocolate cake:

3 large eggs

250g butter

250g caster sugar

250g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

2 ½ tsp baking powder

Juice and zest of 1 orange

For the Chocolate water ganache:

250g chocolate 60%

125ml boiling water

For the Italian Meringue:

2 egg whites

¼ tsp cream of tartar

110g caster sugar

50ml water

For the Decoration:

Cocoa for dusting

Candied chestnuts

Flaked almonds

For the torte, prepare a 20cm spring form tin with non-sticking baking paper and preheat the oven to 170c

Firstly very finely chop and mash or blend up in a food processor the prune and set aside.

In a bain-marie or double boiler melt the chocolate and butter together.

While the chocolate is melting whisk the chestnut puree and double cream together until you have smooth texture and set aside.

Next separate the eggs, cream the caster sugar and egg yolks until they become thick and glossy.
Now whisk the whites into soft peaks and set aside.

So you should have 5 different bowls of combine ingredients, mix together the eggs sugar with the chestnut puree, followed by the prunes and then the chocolate mixture lightly whisk until well combined
Finely grate the zest of the orange into the mixture followed by the juice.

Time to combine the egg whites, first put one big dollop of the whites into the mixture to loosen it up, then with the remaining whites  in 2 halves gentle fold in the remaining white until just combined and know more as you don’t want to knock out to much air.

Pour into the prepared tined and bake for 25 – 30 mins, it should be still slight wobbly in the middle and a few crack will have appeared.

Allow to cool and removed the spring form tin and chill for a few hours in the fridge.

While the torte is chilling, time for the chocolate cake. Prepare two 20 cm spring form or normal tins with non-stick baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with a hand mixer.

Next sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a separate bowl.

Now add all the eggs into the sugar mixture along with the sieved dry ingredients and beat together until well combined.

Finely grate the zest of the orange into the mixture followed by the juice and mix in.

Divide the mixture evenly  between the two tins and bake at 170 for 20 mins.

Remove the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Once the cakes half cooled and the torte has chilled, its time to stack them. First place one sponge on top of the torte and flip it over so the sponge is now on the bottom, the torte is quite delicate so this mean is less change of breaking up, now place the second sponge on top of the torte.

The torte should now be in the filling of a sponge sandwich.

Time for the ganache, this might sound strange but the ganache is made with water and chocolate not cream.

So in a bain-marie or double boiler melt the chocolate.

While the chocolate is melting boil 125ml of water.

Once melted take the bowl off the heat and pour in about a table spoon of the water in the chocolate, and whisk together it will look like its separating but keep whisking it will come together, then add the remaining water and keep whisking.

The ganache will be a bit runny but will thicken up as it cools, while the ganache is still workable, with a palette knife cover the whole cake/torte in the ganache.

Right time for the meringue topping. In a saucepan stir the sugar and water together over a medium heat.

Dip a pastry brush in water and brush any bits of sugar from the sides of the pan down into the syrup to melt, otherwise it will turn the sugar syrup grainy. When all of the sugar is dissolved, bring it to a fast boil until it reaches 120C/250F.

While the syrup is reaching temperature, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar into soft peaks.

As soon as the syrup reaches the correct temperature, pour it onto the egg whites in a thin, steady stream as you whisk. Be careful not to pour the hot syrup directly onto the beaters, as it may stick to them or splash back at you.

When all the syrup has been mixed, continue to whisk the meringue until it has cooled. It should be shiny and stiff and be tepid temperate.

Transfer to a piping bag and with a large nozzle pipe small peaks to the top of the cake, starting around the outside and work your way into the middle.

Dust your serving plate with coco and transfer the cake to the plate, finish the top of the cake with finely chopped candied chestnuts and flaked almonds.

The cake will keep for 3 days in the fridge so can be made in advance for Christmas day.