Mont Blanc Mille-feuille

I made this cake for Christmas Eve, the base is frozen New Way puff pastry, which is vegetarian.

I cut out four shapes (I was thinking of a Christmas tree), I brushed them with water and sprinkled them with caster sugar (to make sweet puff pastry). With a fork I made some incisions on the pastry so it would not puff up too much during baking.

I had some pastry left over, so I mixed it with more caster sugar and cinnamon and rolled it out with the rolling pin and then folded it again a few times (like you do with puff pastry) until all the sugar was well mixed. Then I rolled it up and cut it into small circles, which I lightly pushed up using my finger. I thought that they could look like little pine cones...

I baked everything at 180°C until golden (about 15-20 minutes). To make the filling I used Clément Faugier canned chestnut purée: one large can of unsweetened purée, and one small can of the sweet type (crème de marrons), which has a hint of vanilla. I mixed the chestnut with a little rum (Ron Zacapa Centenario, an excellent rum produced in Guatemala), some grated dark chocolate, and some whipped cream. I assembled the mille-feuille 'tree' starting from the largest piece of pastry, and topping it with some chestnut mixture, and some more whipped cream. I continued until the last layer.

I used the remaining chestnut mixture to fill the pastry 'pine cones' and took the cake to a party. It was really easy to cut and serve, and it feed many people. Everybody liked it!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©