Many versions of snake cakes are baked across countries from Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Morocco and Algeria, some are sweet and some are savoury and many are prepared for the Christmas season. I can’t mention all their names, but one thing they all share in common, aside from their serpentine shapes, is that their origins are considered so ancient they disappear into the mists of history…

Chocolate Chestnut & Candied Clementine M’hencha

INGREDIENTS

Filling

• 1 ¼ cups chestnuts, cooked or roasted OR same amount of unsweetened chestnut puree
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp rum
• 1 tbsp espresso or dark coffee
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons of candied ginger (optional)
• 1 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped, or good quality chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons of candied orange or citrus peel
• 2 tablespoons of icing sugar for dusting

Pastry

• 6  sheets filo pastry
• 4 -5 tablespoons butter, melted
• ¾ cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Filling

Blend all the ingredients except for the chocolate in your food processor until coarse, thick paste forms. It should hold together when squeezed between your fingers. If it is dry, add a splash more of rum or espresso or rum. Mix in the chocolate.

Preheat the oven to (350 F)

Lightly dust a large area of work surface with icing sugar. Layout 5 filo sheets in a long single row with the short edges of the phyllo sheets facing you. Make sure each sheet overlaps the previous one by 2-3 inches. (keep the 6th sheet to patch up any holes or tears.)

Dollop the filling about a tablespoon at a time along the length of the pastry in the bottom third, leaving a 2-inch border of pastry at the bottom, and the same at either end.

Lightly brush the exposed pastry with melted butter, then fold the left end over onto the filling. Next, roll the entire pastry from the bottom up to encase the filling. (even though this video is for a different pastry it gives you a good visual idea of the process. Pretty simple really.)

Brush the whole thing with more melted butter, then, starting from the left end, roll the sausage carefully into a snug coil, trying not to split the pastry. Tuck the unfilled flap of pastry at the right end under the coil to secure it, then brush the whole thing with more melted butter. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Note: While I usually research & write about traditional foods and dishes found in my ancestral heritage –  and they literally stretch literally across the European Continent –  I always want to be careful about cultural appropriation i.e. telling stories that are not mine to tell and this M’Hencha Cake qualifies.  I apologize for any cultural insensitivities, colonial blunders or historical inaccuracies I have made and am happy to be corrected. 

https://gathervictoria.com/2020/12/19/holiday-snake-cake/