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Chestnut cake from Monteriggioni, Tuscany

25th November 2011 by Regula 13 Comments

A beautiful farmers market in the heart of a fortified town.
It was a sunny autumn morning when we left for Monteriggioni, the fog had slipped away and gave way to a yellow and brown colored landscape.
We changed our clocks one hour ahead that night so when we awoke the dew had already dried up and the sun was giving a warm glow.
We drove trough the rolling landscape of Tuscany to reach the hill where the quintessentially fortified town of Monterriggioni lies.
From a distance the town looks like a giant fairytale castle, as we drove towards it my thoughts wandered off to the Middle Ages when Monteriggioni was at the very heart of the conflicts between Florence and Siena. I imagined large battalions of knights approaching the town and peasants going about their business. The knights have all gone now but the farmers remained and were the reason we were driving here today.
Today was a special day in Monteriggioni because in the heart of the fortified town there was a farmers market going on. It was only for one day and there were no certainties for it to happen ever again. The town square was filled with food stalls, producers were proudly presenting their new Organic olive oil and wines were given to taste generously. There were smiling faces everywhere, from the stallholders insisting we’d try their food to the people who were enjoying the scenery and the sun. It was like at this moment, everyone was happy here. There was no music, no dancing but nonetheless this was a feast, a food fest.
The produce at this market was absolutely beautiful, if I could I would have bought something from every stall. But luggage restrictions bound me to making choices, a choice like this is hard to make. What do I leave behind, the glorious organic chestnut flour or the tasty Boar salami… I decided to leave the Fava beans behind and regret that choice every day since. What if I could have fitted an extra bag in my luggage?
Oh well, you can’t have it all and I went home with a beautiful selection of food. 

Monteriggioni
Chestnuts roasting

Fill your own cone of tasty chillies
Proudly presenting the new Organic olive oil of 2011

Snail ragout, suprisingly delicious
Wild boar delicacies

Chestnut cake, recipe for my version of this cake below.

Chestnut bread and chickpeas

I baked a cake with the organic chestnut flour I bought at the market. 
My friends and I tried to bake this cake in the evening as we tasted chestnut cake at the market that day. The heath of the oven warmed Giulia’s house and filled it with a lovely smell of chestnuts, on this chilly autumn evening.
We loved it so much at the market, I decided I wanted to have another try at reproducing this wonderful cake. After a few tries I came up with this recipe, it’s not at all the cake we tried at the market but I think this one tastes more of chestnuts, which was something I was going for.

Ingredients
200 gr of Chestnut flour
75 gr of corn flour
175 gr good quality butter (unsalted)
1,5 teaspoons of baking powder (check the pack, not all brands of baking powder are gluten free)
4 organic eggs
50 gr of cane sugar
3 teaspoons of Ricotta
1 teaspoon of Cocoa

Method
Preheat your oven to 160° (gas)
Cover a cake tin with baking paper
1. Mix your butter and the sugar, whisk until creamy
2. Add the eggs one by one
3. Add the Ricotta to the butter and egg mixture and stir
4. Add the two types of flour to a bowl and add the baking powder
5. Add the butter, egg and sugar mixture to the flour and mix together.
6. Pour the batter into your baking thin and put in the oven for about 50 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, leave it to cool in the baking tin.
Dust with Cocoa when the cake is still warm.

You wouldn’t believe how much this cake tastes of roasted chestnuts, just divine!
A good thing about this cake is the low amount of sugar used.
Enjoy!

Next week I’m attempting another dish I discovered in Tuscany: Fagloli al fiasco
Have you missed my previous post about our Tuscan escape? You will find it here

Special thanks to Giulia from Juls’ kitchen

Please leave a comment. I appreciate every single one.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cake, dessert, foodandtravel, foodie, glutenfree, Italian, Italy, recipes, Tuscany

Previous Post: « Tuscany in the autumn, a celebration of food.
Next Post: Traditional lowland gingerbread: kruidnoten »

Reader Interactions

Thanks for reading x Regula

Comments

  1. Juls @ Juls' Kitchen says

    26th November 2011 at 9:16 AM

    love, love love!
    Love for the chestnut cake, that seems really what we were looking for that evening,
    love for the pictures, so inviting
    love for the memories, so heart-warming!

    This market could easily become our annual meeting in Tuscany!!

    Miss you girl!

    Reply
  2. Regula says

    26th November 2011 at 9:29 AM

    So glad you like it! I'm having a piece of the cake for breakfast right now! Missing you too xxx

    Reply
  3. Jesica @ Pencil Kitchen says

    26th November 2011 at 11:26 PM

    Love love love love chestnuts natural sweet scent and taste. Even better, its natural moist chewy texture…

    Reply
  4. Regula says

    28th November 2011 at 9:26 AM

    Jesica, when I bake with chestnut flour I can't stop eating the flour! It tastes so sweet!

    Reply
  5. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    28th November 2011 at 2:09 PM

    That looks so beautiful! I would love to taste it… I have some chestnut flour in the cupboard but I think it's past it's best and I should find some more!

    Reply
  6. thebotanicalbaker says

    28th November 2011 at 7:14 PM

    Oh my! Just when I was wondering what to do with my chestnuts from the weekend! Lovely post darling x

    Reply
  7. Regula says

    28th November 2011 at 7:21 PM

    Sarah, yes go and find it! You will like it! I tried it with sticky toffee sauce yesterday, oh my!

    Urvashi, Thanks so much! This cake will not let you down!

    Reply
  8. Heidi @foodiecrush says

    7th December 2011 at 6:25 AM

    I've never tried anything with chestnut flour and not sure where to find it where I live, but that cake looks deeeevine. And your travel pics make me want o jump on a big old plane and see the market myself. Gorg. I'll pick up some fava beans for you.

    Reply
  9. Regula says

    7th December 2011 at 7:34 PM

    Heidi, be sure to try it if you find the flour! It has a sweet taste and I'm sure you'll love it. Thanks for picking up some beans for me, that's very sweet of you 🙂

    Reply
  10. CulinaryCache says

    10th February 2012 at 12:57 AM

    This sounds like a lovely recipe, and your photos are stunning. I'm new to your blog, and really enjoying your posts.

    Reply
  11. kitchenlardercupboard says

    14th July 2012 at 3:44 PM

    That looks so beautiful! Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply
  12. Cat says

    16th January 2016 at 2:57 PM

    This looks delicious! I would love to try this at home, but I do have one question about corn flour, is this the yellow corn flour that is finely grounded? or corn starch?
    Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Regula says

      18th January 2016 at 4:27 PM

      Finely grounded corn flour, not corn starch! Happy baking!

      Reply

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Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. Read More…

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