These mini desserts take inspiration from the traditional Mantua cake known as sbrisolòna, commonly produced and consumed in the whole Lombardia regione as well as Emilia Romagna and in the area of Verona city.
Its name comes from the word brìsa, which means crumb in Mantua dialect and it seems it was created during the Gonzaga kingdom in 1600. Indeed, the cake itself seems to be made of many dough crumbs that give the dessert a nice and crunchy texture.
Here is a nice vegan version of this traditional dessert made with apricot jam and chocolate.

Prep Time | 1 hour |
Servings |
people
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Ingredients
- 7 oz cornflour
- 0,9 oz ground linseed
- 2,6 oz rice milk
- to taste lemon zest grated
- 5,3 oz almonds peeled
- 2,3 oz almonds unpeeled
- 1/2 vanilla bean seeds
- 6,3 oz raw cane sugar
- 5,3 fl. oz. extra virgin olive oil delicate
- 2,3 oz dark chocolate flakes
- 1 jar apricot jam Menz & Gasser
- 10 apricots fresh or dried
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Pour the ground linseed and the rice milk into a bowl and leave for at least 10 minutes.
- Open the vanilla pod, scraping the seed out from inside and mix it together with the cornflour, the raw cane sugar and the grated lemon rind.
- Add the coarsely chopped peeled almonds and combine the ingredients with the olive oil, mixing well.
- Add the linseed mixture little by little. Once it is smooth, pour into a baking tin with 12 molds lined with baking cases, to a depth of 0.5 inches.
- Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes, checking the “sbrisoline” are golden brown before removing from the oven.
- Remove the “sbrisoline” from the baking cases whilst they are still warm and allow to cool completely.
- Select some clear glasses of the same diameter as the “sbrisoline” and assemble them as follows: a bottom layer of Menz & Gasser apricot jam, a disk of “sbrisolina”, another layer of apricot jam, with some finely chopped pieces of either dried or fresh apricots (depending on availability), and flakes of dark chocolate.
- Coat the “sbrisoline” with a mix of flaked almonds and chocolate and garnish with a mint leaf or a curl of lemon rind.
Recipe Notes
Thanks to: Cucina Mancina