Castagnaccio
The peasant cake of the Apennines, where chestnuts stood in for wheat for centuries. It contains no sugar, no eggs, no yeast — just chestnut flour, water, olive oil, pine nuts, raisins and rosemary. The flour itself gives the sweetness. Castagnaccio is flat, dense and moist, with a crackled crust. The key is a thin batter poured shallow: a thick cake stays rubbery and raw inside.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the raisins 15 min
- Batter 10 min
- Baking 40 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the raisins
Cover the raisins with warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and pat dry. Dry raisins on top of the cake burn in the oven into hard, bitter nuggets.
Ingredients: 50 g raisins · 40 g pine nuts · 40 g walnuts · 2 pcs rosemary · 1 pcs orange · 2 tbsp olive oil
Sieve the chestnut flour
Sieve the chestnut flour into a bowl. It clumps easily in storage, and lumps will not break up in a thin batter — they stay as dry beads in the finished cake.
Ingredients: 300 g chestnut flour · 450 ml water · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 pinch salt
Sieved — chestnut flour lumps never dissolve.Add the water gradually, whisking
Add the salt and pour in the cold water gradually, whisking, until smooth and pourable, like thick cream. Finally whisk in the oil. The batter should be thin — that is right.
Ingredients: 300 g chestnut flour · 450 ml water · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 pinch salt
Smooth and pourable as thick cream.Stir in half the additions
Stir half the raisins, walnuts and pine nuts and the orange zest into the batter. The other half goes on top — those inside give flavour, those on the surface crunch and decorate.
Ingredients: 50 g raisins · 40 g pine nuts · 40 g walnuts · 2 pcs rosemary · 1 pcs orange · 2 tbsp olive oil
Pour thinly into the tin
Oil a 28 cm tin and pour in the batter no more than 1.5 cm deep. Castagnaccio should be flat. Deeper, the centre never bakes through and has the texture of rubber.
Ingredients: 300 g chestnut flour · 450 ml water · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 pinch salt
Scatter the rest and the rosemary
Scatter the remaining pine nuts, walnuts, raisins and rosemary needles over the top and drizzle with oil. The oil on top gives the crackled, glossy crust characteristic of this cake.
Ingredients: 50 g raisins · 40 g pine nuts · 40 g walnuts · 2 pcs rosemary · 1 pcs orange · 2 tbsp olive oil
Rosemary and nuts on top, oil last.Bake until the crust crackles
Bake 35–40 minutes at 190°C, until the top is netted with cracks and the edges pull slightly from the tin. The centre stays moist and faintly sticky — the right texture, not underbaking.
Ingredients: 300 g chestnut flour · 450 ml water · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 pinch salt
Serve lukewarm with ricotta
Cool in the tin and serve lukewarm or at room temperature, cut into squares, with a spoon of ricotta and a little chestnut honey. In Tuscany vin santo is drunk alongside.
Ingredients: 250 g ricotta · 2 tbsp chestnut honey
Before you start
Fresh chestnut flour
Chestnut flour goes rancid faster than wheat, as it contains fat. Buy it in autumn after the new harvest and keep it in the fridge. Old flour gives a faintly bitter cake without sweetness.
Unsweetened by design
Castagnaccio is sweet only from the chestnuts and raisins. Modern versions add sugar, but the earthy character is lost. For more sweetness drizzle a slice with honey rather than sweetening the batter.
Three days under a dome
Castagnaccio keeps three days under a dome at room temperature. Do not refrigerate — it hardens and loses moisture. For coeliacs, buy chestnut flour labelled gluten free — it is often milled where wheat is processed.
