Mont Blanc.

Ohgollygosh...I’m going to say the C-word, I just can’t help it, it’s been welling up for a while....CHRISTMAS. Oops sorry. I know I know, you’re running away...fast, I can hear your wails. But. I do promise that after today I will file it away at least until the actual month is upon us.

I’m just so easily excited about these things. All I need is the mere hintiest-hint of glitter and I’m all of a flutter. When I heard through the twitter-vine that my fav farm shop had got it’s glitter on, I ran there right away...okok not riiight away, I was in my PJs and it was night time, but the very next day I ran there...can you imagine me...like Phoebe’s running in Friends, limbs flailing and lots of wooping...don't worrrrrry I drove really.

I didn’t buy anything Christmassy; I bought mince and milk, but I soaked it all up and fed it to the ‘internally jumping for joy’ section of my brain. I also took away with me the notion of this easy-peasy pud, which, without being overtly glittery, gives the C-word a rather blatant nod.

In my head it’s a rather fancy thing, but I’m not sure why...maybe it’s the meringue; meringues are rather glam. And chestnuts always seem quite grown up to me. And there, right there, are the merits of this Mont Blanc...festively fancy feeling, while only requiring the merest slap-dash of an effort. Ok I’ll put the glitter away....for noooooow. With Love and Cake.

Mont Blanc

A few notes:

• I, rather smugly, made my own chestnut jam last year. I will NOT bore you with the recipe because it involves shelling a KILO of chestnuts and that HURTS your thumbs, so just buy some sweetened chestnut puree or ‘chestnut spread’ like this one which I’ve seen around and about...it might even be in supermarkets if you live in one of those exotic city places I've heard so much about.
• This would still very much be a Mont Blanc if you left off the chocolate sauce, and it would require even less effort to put together if you omitted it....I just felt like including it, for colour more than anything.
• Recipe for meringues....HERE. Or you could use bought ones.
• You could use whipped cream in the place of mascarpone of you fancied.

Serves 4

You will need

4 meringues

4 tbsp sweetened chestnut puree

For the cream

250g mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate sauce

80g dark chocolate

a healthy knob of butter

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

100ml milk

• This is pretty much an assembly job, so first let's get all the components ready.
• For the cream, just whisk the vanilla and icing sugar into the mascarpone until smooth.
• To make the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate and butter together either in a bowl over a pan of boiling water or in the microwave.
• Whisk in the sugar, syrup and milk, heat and stir a bit more so that you have a silky smooth sauce.
• Now for assembly...pop each meringue on it's serving plate and top with a tablespoon of the chestnut puree.
• Top that with a tablespoon of the mascarpone mixture and then pour over the chocolate sauce.
• If your feeling festive, sift over a sprinkling of icing sugar and pretend it's snow.