Macaccino torte with toasted pecan and chocolate crumb

Recipe courtesy of Psychologies Magazine (October 2015) and taken from The Virtuous Tart by Susan Jane White.

Maca is the Lucozade of the granola-crunching, wheatgrass-swilling community. This golden fairy dust is supposed to strengthen stamina and virility too. If you’re curious, this mystical maca comes in powdered form resembling a sort of butterscotch flour. It’s fun to use, and if it does indeed boost libido, then it’s even more fun than expected. Good luck!

Makes 20 servings

For the base:
1 cup (110g) pecans
5 Medjool dates or pre-soaked regular dates, pitted and chopped
2 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
sprinkle of seat salt flakes

For the cream filling:
1 1/2 cups (170g) cashew nut butter
6 tblsp maple syrup or coconut blossom nectar
5 tblsp hot, strong coffee
3 tblsp maca powder
2 tblsp lucuma powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 teaspoons tamari soya sauce
4 tblsp melted cacao butter
4-5 squares of dark chocolate, melted, to decorate
Coffee beans, to decorate (optional)

Step One : To make the base, put all the base ingredients in a food processor and whizz together until they begin to clump into a ball. You might need a tiny trickle of cold water or coffee to bring it all together, depending on how soft the dates are. You can post pecans first, but it’s not necessary.

Step Two : Press the mixture firmly into a non-stock 18cm springform tin, or whatever torte flan you have. Set in the freezer while you get going on the cream filling.

Step Three : To make the filling, give the cashew butter, maple syrup, hot coffee, maca, lucuma and tamari a good pelt in a high-speed blender or food processor. You don’t need to buy lucuma especially for this recipe – a dash of vanilla works just as well, but the lucuma will give buttery, caramel tones to the flavour.

Step Four : Slowly add the melted cacao butter to the mix while the motor is still running. You should have a glossy maca-fuelled ganache by now. Spread the filling over your base and refrigerate until set. You can happily keep this macaccino torte in the freezer too, for unexpected dates. To decorate, go mad with melted dark chocolate and a spoon, and parachute some coffee beans on top.