Have you ever tasted a similar dessert? Filled with tobacco ash cream, it is made with its smoked powder leaves, which give the filling a unique aromatic boost. The prodigies of Grow Restaurant explain the necessary steps to make it.

Photo by Lido Vannucchi

Tobacco and Chocolate Cake by Grow Restaurant

A dessert inspired by the legend of the "paesana brianzola"

For the filling

200 g stale bread
85 g amaretti cookies
250 g sugar
55 g cocoa
60 g raisins
25 g pine nuts
25 g 70% chocolate
Vanilla
Orange
700 g milk

Method

In a large container, place the stale bread, amaretti cookies, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate. Bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla and orange zest and pour it over the bread. Soften the bread and pass it through a vegetable mill, add the raisins previously soaked in water and the pine nuts. Pour the filling into silicone molds and let it cool.

For the puff pastry

500 g flour
15 g salt
250 g water
525 g butter (75 g for the batter)

Method

Knead the flour with water, salt, and 75 grams of butter. Form a smooth dough ball and let it rest for 15 minutes. With the remaining butter, form a brick about 1 cm high.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to form a rectangle about 4/5 mm thick and place the butter brick in the center, covering it with the side flaps of the dough. Beat the dough with the rolling pin, then roll out the dough.

From this point, proceed with the turns to give to the dough to obtain the final height of the cooked pastry: fold the dough into three parts, overlapping them, then roll it out, repeating the operation three times and letting it rest for 10 minutes in the refrigerator between each turn.

Finally, roll out the dough to a height of 2/3 mm, place the chilled filling on top, overlap another sheet of pastry, and carve a design as desired. Brush with beaten egg yolk and honey before baking at 200°C for about 15 minutes.

For the tobacco ash cream

4 egg yolks
100 g sugar
500 ml cream
10 g powdered smoked tobacco leaves

Method

Heat the cream with a vanilla pod and tobacco powder, add it to the previously beaten eggs and sugar and bring the mixture to a temperature of 82°C; strain and let cool.

Serve the cake at room temperature accompanied by smoked tobacco English cream.