Chestnut cake

I spent the fall months in Spain and Portugal.  I walked through chestnut orchards and saw a few ancient knarled trees that would remember where the old orchards used to be.  Chestnuts rained down from the canopy of the shaded trail and I was glad not to be struck by the spiny husks.
I saw a few cafes or bakeries mentioning 'chestnut cake' - in English, clearly for us camino tourists - and I recalled the chestnut delicacies I had years ago in Germany.  I had them roasted and also whipped, sweetened and spiced into a dessert.  I liked them, and thus set about to sample some here.
Alas every inquiry into getting these chestnut products seemed thwarted.  I found vaccuum-sealed tarts that had expired and had mould spots, or else I'd "just missed" the last slice.  After enough frustration I've laughably resigned that this is a low-key conspiracy to simply not share their chestnuts with me.
Fine.
I will make my own chestnut cake.
I discovered that the American Chestnut had been severely devastated by a fungal blight, I wonder if that is one reason why we mostly see chestnuts used more in Europe than in North America.  I purchased roughly $5 of chestnuts from the a market that has a selection of local produce and foreign imports, and I believe these came from Italy.  I also learned that chestnuts should have two or three weeks stored in minor refrigeration before using to 'cure' and maximixe their sweetness.  Maybe that's why I couldn't get them in Spain at the end of September despite the bombarding bounty from the trees.
I used the recipe here which seemed simple and showcased the chestnuts without overly competing flavours.  I found the most challenging aspect was preparing the chestnut flour, specifically removing the meat of the nut from not only the skin, which flakes somewhat easily after roasting, but the pellicle which would rather flake my fingernails off.  I managed a combination of roasting and simmering that worked adequately though time consuming.  This is likely a task that becomes easier with practice.  I now have a few enthusiastic tasters who wouldn't mind another attempt at this cake in the near future.