Tessa Kiros

Castagnaccio

Chestnut flour cake

Preparation info

  • Makes

    one

    24 cm flat cake

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in

top 1000Twelve: A Tuscan Cookbook

Twelve

By Tessa Kiros

Published 2003

  • About

Originally, this cake was made in December once the November chestnuts had been dried and made into flour. Nowadays, chestnut flour and this rather unusual cake are both sold in November. As with all their traditional goods, the local people love this cake which they have grown up with.

Ingredients

  • 80 g (3 oz) sultanas
  • 400 g (14

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Soak the sultanas in a little warm water to soften them. Put the chestnut flour into a bowl with 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, a pinch of salt and the water. Mix in with a wooden spoon to make a smooth and fairly liquid batter.

Drain o