Orange Chestnut Upside-down Cake

Vegan Upside-down Cake

Chestnuts are a type of fruit and nut that grow in some real big trees in the northern hemispheres but the most well known are the ones from China; you could never recognize one if you haven’t googled them first haha at least it happened to me since what we get at the store it is not their natural looks, they originally are wrapped in a a sort of moss layer and they are peeled to go to the stores. If Chestnut is a challenge to find where you live my second suggestion would be to use pecans that pair well with oranges.

At the beginning of October this year I went to a mastermind retreat, were a group of 8 creative women finally got to meet after we all had video calls it felt like we knew each other but not yet until that week, needles to say it was such a wonderful week. This lovely gathering had another lovely creative woman Shauna @asecretlanguage our chef! who kept indulging our palates with the most wonderful seasonal dishes and lucky to us her and Eva (our organizer) have shared one of many recipes Chestnuts Brown Butter Potatoes with Caramelized Leeks where by the way you can read how to properly cook and peel chestnuts; so this cake has been inspired by those buttered chestnuts.

The orange cake is a basic one but by making an upside-down the juice of the oranges will soak on to the cake making it even spongier; also, orange cake was one of my mom’s staple cake to have around the house when we were young enough to not complain about our weight HA!

Orange Chestnut Upside-down Cake

Vegan

Makes: 10 servings

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

BOTTOM
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 orange, sliced in full moons
• 1/2-1/4 cup chopped
CAKE
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup organic sugar
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup soft coconut oil
• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk (vegan)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp orange zest

Instructions:

1. As for how to cook and peel chestnuts, please refer to link above in the second parragraph
2. Preheat your oven at 350F and generously grease you 8” mold with soft coconut oil and place a parchment paper at the bottom then grease it again; sprinkle the brown sugar on the bottom of the pan and then arrange the oranges and chestnuts in any way you would like to
3. In a bowl add all of your dry ingredients; in a separate bowl your liquid ingredients, keep you oil and zest separate
4. Now you can add all of the ingredients gradually and alternating as you mix, once you notice it has all ben mixed and you have a nice cohesive batter it’s ready
5. Pour in mold and let bake for 40 minutes or until your test pick comes out clean; once done, let rest in mold for 10 minutes and then turn it out of the mold on a large enough plate or platter to hold the cake and juices. And there you have it all ready to share!