Chestnut/Acorn Skillet Cake


By Dana Maple Feeney & Noah Simon

Skillet cake (“a-corn bread”) based on the biscuit recipe. Acorn flour gives a darker, coffee-like flavor, and honey helps make a light crumb and texture. Also makes great muffins. You can do this recipe with chestnut flour only and it’s still great.


Ingredients:

Makes a 10” skillet cake. You can double the recipe and bump it up to a 12” skillet cake.

Dry:

  • 1 cup fine chestnut flour

  • 1 cup coarse chestnut flour

  • 1 cup acorn flour. If you want to buy some acorn flour send us a message and we can connect you with friends who make and sell it. As an alternative, you can just sub 1 cup fine chestnut flour.

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp baking soda

Wet:

  • 4 chicken eggs

  • 3/4 cup olive oil, hickory oil, or your preferred fat. Lard or butter also work well — if you choose one of these “solid fats”, increase to 1 cup.

  • 1/2 cup honey

  • Options: black currants, rosemary, lemon or orange zest, lavender, thyme, vanilla, warm spices, black walnuts… anything you want to try! 

Steps:

  1. ⁠Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Put a 10” cast iron skillet in the oven to pre-heat.

  2. Mix all dry ingredients together. If you feel up for it, sift the flour to break up any clumps.

  3. ⁠⁠Mix all wet ingredients together. Use a whisk, egg beater, or fork to emulsify the liquids well.

  4. ⁠⁠Mix it all together. Consistency will be sticky and fairly thick, with ragged edges.

  5. Oil the bottom and sides of the skillet. Use a spoon to spread the dough evenly around the skillet.

  6. ⁠⁠Bake for 25 minutes at 350° F, until the top is starting to brown and the sides are starting to come away from the skillet.