Castagnaccio - Italian Chestnut Cake
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
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400g/14ozschestnut flour
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500ml/1 pint cold water
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4 tablespoons super fine caster sugar
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2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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Fine zest of 1 orange or mandarin (I used mandarin)
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65g/2.3ozs sultanas or raisins rehydrated in warm water for 20 minutes (I used fresh cherries cut into small pieces, no doubt sacrilege but I didn't have raisins)
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50g/1.7ozs pine nuts
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A few needles of rosemary (optional)
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butter to grease baking tins
To decorate
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Roasted Fresh chestnuts
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Cherries on stems
**Buyer's tip: In Australia, Chestnut Flour can be found at Simon Johnson. As nut flours can spoil easily, store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 160C. Butter 2 smaller baking tins or 1 large tin. In a large bowl sift the chestnut flour. Then add the water gradually and stir to remove any lumps. Stir in sugar and olive oil and then zest and raisins or sultanas or cherries and half of the pine nuts.
Step 2 - Pour liquidey batter into tins and sprinkle with the rest of the pine nuts and rosemary if using. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in tin and then remove. When cool decorate with cherries and chestnuts.
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I hope Vegan readers will not take offence but Vegan cakes and stylish Italian fare don't appear synonymous. Veganism, at least to my thinking, is often associated with some sort of sacrifice (although Vegans would probably deny this) but for my palate it means the sacrificing of a lot of my favourite foods. I do have Vegan relatives and friends and it can be hard when trying to think of a cake that will satisfy their requirements but is also palatable and isn't so hard that it can be used a weapon (although I have to say I've seen a few great looking Vegan chocolate cakes on blogs). This cake surprisingly answers that call and it's also good if you happen to have a roundtable of people with food allergies and intolerances as chestnut flour does not contain any gluten.