Torta di Castagne
A dark, moist cake of chestnut purée, chocolate, eggs and butter baked for 40 minutes at 170C.
Photograph credit: Castagnaccio #vegan #glutenfree by Gordon Joly · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
A cake for ten people on a cold afternoon, made with a tin of chestnut purée and no flour at all. Torta di castagne is a dark, dense, moist Italian cake, and the chestnuts give it a sweetness and a texture that nuts alone cannot.
Use unsweetened chestnut purée if you can find it, or sweetened and cut the sugar to match. Beat it with softened butter until smooth, then add the egg yolks one at a time and the melted chocolate. Whisk the whites separately to soft peaks and fold them in, in two goes, since they are the only raising in a cake without flour. Stir the first third in firmly to loosen the heavy batter, then fold in the rest very gently.
Bake in a lined 22 cm tin at 170°C / 340°F for about 40 minutes, until the top is set and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. The cake is fragile while warm, so cool it completely in the tin. Dust with cocoa and serve in small slices with cream.
Questions About Torta di Castagne
How long does Torta di Castagne take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking, so at least 1 hour. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 10.
How to Make Torta di Castagne
Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.
-
Heat the oven to 170°C / 340°F and line a 22 cm tin.
-
Beat the chestnut purée, butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the yolks one at a time, then the chocolate and vanilla.
-
Whisk the whites and salt to soft peaks. Stir a third into the batter, then fold in the rest gently.
-
Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until set.
-
Cool completely in the tin. Dust with the cocoa and serve with the cream.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.
Worth Getting Right
- Beat the purée until smooth.
- Stir in a third of the whites firmly, then fold the rest.
- Cool completely before turning out.
Pairs Well With
Whipped cream · Espresso · Dessert wine
Leftovers and Storage
Keeps for 4 days in the fridge.
Torta di Castagne Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
You Might Also Like
More Italian cooking and baking ideas from Weekly Delight.
Chocolate Biscotti
Twice-baked Italian cookies with cocoa and chocolate chips, baked as a log for 30 minutes, sliced and crisped for 15…
Hazelnut Chocolate Cake
A rich, almost flourless Italian-style cake of dark chocolate, butter and ground hazelnuts.
Torta Sbrisolona
A cake you break rather than cut, sandy with cornmeal and almonds. Mantua has made it since the Gonzagas and it has…
Torta di Ricotta
A tender, lightly sweet Italian cake of ricotta, eggs and lemon in a short crust, baked for 50 minutes and cooled…
Torta Margherita
A light Italian sponge cake of eggs, sugar, flour and potato starch with lemon, baked for 40 minutes and dusted with…
Maritozzo
A soft sweet bun split almost in half and packed with an absurd quantity of whipped cream, then cut flush with a…