Dried fruit is not just a healthy snack or the classic end of a meal for the party table. Energetic, nutritious, easily digestible and rich in minerals, dried fruit also lends itself to baking. It’s ideal for creating delicious desserts and snacks perfect for the whole family.
Thanks to Amazon and its Happy Belly products, Isabella Potì, head chef at the Michelin-starred Bros restaurant in Lecce and training pastry chef, took notice of dried fruit, and made a cake that’s healthier than your average! Here’s her recipe for chocolate cake with lots of dried mango and no butter. "We can imagine rehydrating the mango, as we do in Salento with dried tomatoes, giving it a new consistency, much fresher! It is perfect to give a note of acidity inside a chocolate". And without further ado, the recipe:
Chocolate Oil Cake Recipe
Ingredients
14 oz. of 00 flour, 4 oz. of bitter cocoa powder, 7 oz. Leccino extra virgin olive oil, 5 oz. icing sugar, 2 yolks, 1 whole egg, Pinch of Maldon salt
For the mango
7 oz. dried Happy Belly mango, 14 oz. fresh mango juice, 4 limes, 2 oz. brown sugar
For the chocolate ganache
11 oz. chocolate (75% cacao recommended), 5 oz. heavy cream, 5 oz. milk, 1 tsp Maldon salt
Method
Sift flour, cocoa and sugar into a bowl; add a pinch of salt. Pour oil flush and start mixing to obtain a mixture similar to wet sand. At this point, add the egg and one yolk at a time. Once mixed, keep in the fridge covered in plastic wrap for about 30 minutes. After setting, take out of fridge and form dough into a disc that’s about 3 cm. thick and 15 cm. wide. Spread dough between two sheets of baking paper until it is about 5 mm thick.
For the mango
Cut the dried mango into thin strips. Zest lime with a fine grater and squeeze the juice from four limes. Dissolve sugar in mango juice and add lime juice. Strain and cover the bottom of the cake with dehydrated mango. Freeze lightly (10 minutes in the freezer max) and remove the baking parchment. Line a 24 cm. diameter tart with the pastry disc and bake for 15 minutes at 350°F with a sheet of baking parchment and pastry weights (you can also use dry chickpeas, coarse salt, etc.) on top. Remove the weights and paper. Bake for another 5 minutes.
For the ganache
Bring milk and heavy cream with salt to a boil and pour it into a bowl with the chocolate (broken into pieces). Mix until chocolate melts completely, creating a smooth ganache. Pour directly into the bottom of lukewarm cake with the help of a sac à poche. To finish the cake, fill the rest with ganache and refrigerate for at least one hour.