Coconut and Berries

Healthy, Vegan Recipes by Emma Potts

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake)

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake), Vegan & Gluten-Free

I imagine most of my readers aren’t familiar with Castagnaccio. I certainly wasn’t until a couple of years ago. It’s a traditional Italian dessert/snack, common in Liguria and Tuscany. It’s made from chestnut flour and olive oil and has no raising agents so is dense and rich, rather than fluffy like the cakes you’re probably used to. It’s also very subtly sweet with most of the sweetness coming from the nuts and dried fruit added to it.

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake), Vegan & Gluten-Free

I was introduced to Castagnaccio by a lovely friend, Giovanni: a charming seventy-something year old Italian who lives very near our family home. As a retired psychologist he spends most of his time reading and cooking, and his great joy is feeding people delicious food! He started bringing us little food parcels- coffee-soaked dates and Italian chocolate cake, a divine Caponata along with a white bean dish (fagioli all’uccelletto), sesame snaps, crunchy cookies (whose name I’ve forgotten), and of course Castagnaccio. I fell in love with this naturally-vegan treat and wanted to learn to make it myself.

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake), Vegan & Gluten-Free

With being rather busy studying for my finals earlier this year I didn’t have a lot of time for cooking (Giovanni provided me with snacks hand-delivered to my university pigeon hole!) but took a couple of welcome study breaks to spend some time with my friend and cook with him at his house. As a typical Italian, his approach to cooking is rather laid-back, sort of a “little of this, a little of that” kind of affair. I did make a mental note of everything though and now have the details perfected so I can pass the recipe on to you.

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake), Vegan & Gluten-Free

I decided to make two small cakes this time- one the traditional way with rosemary, walnuts and raisins, and one my own way replacing the walnuts and raisins with hazelnuts and chocolate chips.

Print
Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake)

Yield: 6-8 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 C Chestnut flour
  • 1 Tbsp Coconut sugar (or other granulated sweetener)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1-1/2 C Water
  • 2 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 C Raisins OR Chocolate chips
  • 1/4 C Walnuts OR Toasted, peeled hazelnuts (I made two small ones so used half the amounts of dried fruit and nuts in each)
  • 1 Large sprig of rosemary, leaves removed from stem

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F, lightly oil the edges of a pie dish (or 2 small ones)
  2. Whisk together chestnut flour, sugar, salt and water until smooth and runny.
  3. Add the olive oil to the prepared dish/dishes and place in the oven to warm up for a minute. Remove from oven, pour in the Castagnaccio batter, swirl the olive oil through the mixture and scatter with the dried fruit/choc chips, nuts and rosemary. Return to oven and cook for 15-25 minutes until the surface is dry and cracked. Cooking time will depend on the size of dish you used.
  4. Enjoy warm or cold. I like it as is but it’s sometimes served with ricotta and a drizzle of honey, so for a vegan version you could try non-dairy yogurt or cashew cream, and a drizzle of maple syrup or agave nectar.
http://www.coconutandberries.com/2013/11/29/castagnaccio-italian-chestnut-cake/

Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Cake), Vegan & Gluten-Free

Now, I know chestnut flour isn’t exactly something you see everywhere but it can sometimes by found in health food stores amongst the other gluten-free flours.

If you’re in the UK, you can also order it from Goodness Direct, where I tend to buy a lot of my flours, grains, beans, nuts etc.
If you’re elsewhere you can buy it through Amazon.

I’ve used it in the crust of my Herby Courgette Galette for a pleasant nutty flavour and think it would make a batch of rather special cookies. I also have a very vivid memory of a delicious chocolate brownie I had in a restaurant in Paris, which I was told was made with chestnut flour too.  Lots of room for experimentation!

Have you had Castagnaccio before? Or other dishes made using chestnut flour?

If you’re new to Coconut and Berries, please sign up for email updates and join me elsewhere! I’m on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram (@coconutandberries), Google + and Twitter! You can also follow Coconut and Berries with Bloglovin or Feedly.

 

Share

Comments

  1. This cake sounds absolutely wonderful. I like the idea of something that isn’t overly sweet, and also like denser cakes. I’ve never done anything with chestnut flour, and am not sure I’ve ever eaten chestnuts (might have once). So this would definitely be an adventure - one I’m up for. :-0

  2. I am almost surprised to say that I have had this cake - a friend of mine tasted it at her friend’s and made it when she came to my place last year - it is something I have swithered about making - the rosemary was a bit much for me but I quite fancy your walnut and choc chip version (though I am bit embarassed to say how long I have had chestnut flour and not used it)

  3. Have you ever used canned unsweetened chestnut puree? I have rather a lot of that to hand, and no chestnut flour, I am wondering if the flour plus water comes out at a similar consistency and could be subbed?

    • I haven’t used chestnut purée for this before I’m afraid and am not sure it would be ideal. I think you’d need to add a flour of some kind too as the mixture resembles a pancake batter of sorts.
      I’d probably make a chocolate chestnut cake or mousse with the canned purée instead!

      • I have made chocolate cake with chestnut puree that I enjoyed (but was rather soft) - my favourite use for chestnut puree was in soup with parsnip or other root veg and perhaps a touch of orange

  4. Love the look of this cake! I will definitely be making it as soon as I get my hands on some chestnut flour! Thanks Emma!

  5. I love it! In my home town it’s even more simple than this one, usually chestnut flour, sweetener and vanilla.

  7. I LOVE chestnuts. I haven’t eaten nearly enough of them this season; that shall be remedied this weekend. I was going to make chocolate chestnut truffles this weekend and I have literally been lookng forward to it all week, haha.

    • Chocolate and chestnuts are one of those perfect duos aren’t they? The truffles sound fantastic. We always seem to have a few cans of chestnut purée hanging around in cupboards at home but it only rarely gets used.
      I did make a pretty delicious chocolate chestnut log last year though…I wish I’d written down the recipe :(

  13. This looks delicious and sounds like something I would enjoy! I like desserts that hug the line between certain things like cake and cookie or cake and custard. It’s also very festive looking with all the dried fruit and nuts. Thanks for sharing!

  14. I’ve seen quite a few recipes using chestnut flour recently, taking it as a sign I need to buy some! That looks wonderful, I’ve just been reading my Nigella cook books and this looks like a (much healthier) version of something she would make!

    • You need to send some of those recipes my way Laura. I never seem to see recipes using it. Haha, yes Nigella’s recipes are usually pretty indulgent! We have a few of her books at home.

  19. I love anything with chestnuts and I’ve wanted to make a castagnaccio for a very long time. Now I’ve got a vegan recipe no more excuses!

  20. What a lovely story, Giovanni is so sweet! I’ve never had Castagnaccio, Ive probably seen seen them before, but never knew they were naturally vegan. I imagine the cake tastes so good with a bit of nuts, raisins/chocolate chip and rosemary in addition a perfect holiday sweet, right?! I’ve never made anything with chestnut flour and I don’t think I’ve seen it at Whole Foods either! :(

    • It is SO good and Giovanni is so sweet!
      Hmmm strange that Whole Foods doesn’t carry it. I would have thought they would. Maybe try Dean & Deluca if you have one near you?

  21. Hi emma! i love chesnut so much, mainly chesnut cake, but i hadn’t have a good vegan recipe. i made this cake 5 or 6 times, and it’s amazing :) thank you for sharing!

  22. I’m wondering if this cake gets better with time as many cakes do. Do you find it loses something after a couple days or does it improve? Thanks!

Trackbacks

Copyright © 2013 Emma Potts and Coconut and Berries . Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Coconut and Berries is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.