I remember the old times when I was a child and every celebration in Italy had a signature dish, every city had a specialty to try, every season had a fruit blossoming and every auntie had a secret recipe she never wanted to share with anyone.

Before gluten free diets and Coeliac disease surfaced as a more and more common discomfort in Western countries, Italy had already come up with many nut flour based desserts, that traveled from the rich hazelnuts of Piemonte to the fragrant almonds from Puglia to the vivid green pistachios of Bronte, in Sicily, going through a very generous traditions of regional specialities and gourmet sweets we have become so famous for. The richness of the Italian soil has for centuries offered a great variety of nuts and dry fruit, which have become the main ingredient of some of the most popular desserts of our land. When I started my chef training in Naples, I knew some of the oldest gastronomic secrets were about to be revealed. I had eaten for years food I was about to discover the history of, the reasons behind it, the how and when and how. Well, gluten free wasn’t a trend in Italy. The quality of Italian produce impressed and inspired cooks and chefs and mothers and daughters over the years to experiment and try and repeat recipes until they became a tradition to share and enjoy.

The ability of the nuts to remain fresh over time and to give a fluffy and rich, moist texture to cookies and cakes, made them suitable and versatile over the centuries and trendy and fashionable when was the right time to.

Today we cooked a recipe which has been revisited and rearranged by each region and in each season in a different way, adding as the intuition suggested.

This was originally made with fresh pistachios and bitter almond extract to which have been added cherries, a summer fruit with great taste and also very sensual colours.

Cherry and pistachio gluten free cake

Serves 8

150 gr gluten free flour
120 gr raw or coconut sugar for those who are off refined sugar
120 gr organic butter
3 eggs
75 gr pistachio, shelled and roughly grounded + 2 spoons to garnish
75 gr almond meal
500 gr cherries, pitted
2 spoons of marmalade or honey
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon bitter almond extract

Work the softened butter with the sugar until pale. Add one egg at a time and keep beating while
slowly adding the flour through a sieve to trap more air and help obtaining a fluffier texture.

Add the pistachio and the almond meal, the baking powder and keep stirring until all
combined.

Add the extracts and pour into a round 18 inches baking tray covered in baking paper.
At this stage press the cherries all around the cake, evenly.

Cook for an hour at 180 degrees, testing with a skewer to check if cooked in the middle.

Once out of the oven, let it cool for about 10 minutes than gently distribute the marmalade or honey
and garnish with chopped pistachios and few cherries.