Chestnut Flour Cake

During wartime, the chestnuts harvested for centuries on the Apuan Alps saved many of the local population, including my own family members, from outright starvation. The chestnuts were dried and ground and then used to make wheat flour go further in bread, pasta and many other dishes. There is no rising agent in this cake; it is supposed to be quite dense and slightly elastic, and the texture varies according to whether it is baked in a deep cake tin or a wide, shallow baking tray.