Chestnut flour cake with persimmons and buttermilk
This chestnut flour cake with persimmons and buttermilk is gluten-free and can be made with no added sugar. Naturally sweet and nutty, it makes a great healthy breakfast or dessert!
Servings 8 servings
Equipment
- 9" cast iron or cake pan
- blender
- electric mixer or mixing bowl + whisk
Ingredients
- 172 grams chestnut flour (See notes in article. Our homemade chestnut flour measured to about 1 1/4 cups at this weight but commercial chestnut flour is likely lighter, so we recommend using a kitchen scale to get precise amounts.)
- 1 soft very ripe Japanese persimmon, pureed skin and all (148 grams or 5.2 ounces persimmon puree)
- 1/2 cup organic buttermilk (All we could find was low fat buttermilk, so we can’t say for certain what difference full fat buttermilk would make to texture or bake time - probably not much.)
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup MELTED unsalted grass-fed butter (plus more UNmelted butter to coat baking pan)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- generous pinch of salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp (optional) maple sugar or cane sugar (Only add sugar if you want a sweeter cake, as per notes in article)
Pan-roasted persimmons for side
- firm but ripe Japanese persimmon slices (1 persimmon = 5 slices so you'll want at least one persimmon per every 2 servings of chestnut cake)
- butter for pan
Optional toppings
- maple syrup, powdered sugar, maple sugar, nutmeg dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Butter 9" cast iron pan or cake pan.
- Puree persimmon and set aside. Sift chestnut flour to remove any larger bits/chunks.
- Mix dry ingredients in bowl and set aside.
- Using either an electric mixer or a bowl & whisk, beat eggs. Add other wet ingredients. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until fully incoprorated.
- Pour batter into buttered pan and put into pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, until the cake is firm in the middle and a toothpick pulls out clean. Remove from oven and cool on baking rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. We think it tastes best once it's rested for at least 6 hours then each slice is reheated in the microwave for 15 seconds.
- Serve warm as-is or serve with a side or pan-roasted persimmons as per article notes. Optional: drizzle with maple syrup, powedered sugar, or other sweet toppings.