If you’re looking for a plant-based centerpiece for your festive table, Wild Food Café’s caramel-y, crunchy chestnut and pine nut pie will have even the non-veggies reaching for a slice.
Favoured by vegans, veggies and simply anyone who loves delicious food, London’s Wild Food Café showcases some of the best plant-based food the city has to offer. This upside-down pie is inspired by a previous winter menu at the café and since has influenced festive dinner menus; an updated twist on a classic nut roast recipe that combines caramelised raisins, chestnuts and pine nuts to create a pie worthy of any Christmas Day.
Ingredients
Topping
200g boiled chestnuts
30g pine nuts
30g soaked raisins, drained
Caramel
100g boiled chestnuts
80g coconut sugar
30g pine nuts
2 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp water
Wet Ingredients (for the pie)
280ml plant-based milk
240ml maple syrup
110g coconut sugar
100ml olive oil
1 stalk rosemary, leaves only
1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Zest of 2 oranges
1/2 tsp salt
Dry Ingredients (for the pie)
230g gluten-free flour
40g chestnut flour
30g almond flour
100g boiled chestnuts
30g raisins
30g pine nuts
2 tsp baking powder
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
First make the ‘topping’. Spread the chopped chestnuts over the base of a 25cm (10-inch) round cake tin. Add the pine nuts and soaked raisins and set aside.
Place all the caramel ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium-low heat, let it cook for approximately 10 minutes, then remove from the heat when the sugar has dissolved. Pour the caramel over the ‘topping’.
Add all the dry pie ingredients to a large mixing bowl and combine. Blend all the wet pie ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth, then add to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Combine together with a whisk until the mix is smooth.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, making sure you cover the caramel mixture evenly. Bake for one hour, then remove from the oven and leave to cool. Flip the cake over so that the ‘topping’ is on the top. Decorate with pine nuts and sprigs of rosemary.
Extracted from WILD by Joel and Aiste Gazar (Vermilion, £20) Photography by Wild Food Café Un Limited 2019.
Discover more of our favourite plant-based cafés in London.
Keep things seasonal with our winter food focus.
Looking for recipe inspo ahead of Christmas? Read which cookery books we’re wishing for.