Recipe

apricot-mango cake


This is an adaptation of the chocolate couscous cake recipe in Friendly Foods.
It's designed to take advantage of the lovely dried mangos at our co-op, and
so it's kind of expensive, but very tasty. It would be fine with just apricots
too, of course.

You need a springform pan.

Couscous crust:

1 1/4 c. couscous
1 1/2 c. turbinado sugar
2 1/2 c. water (use water from rehydrating mangos, see below)

Simmer all of this together until it becomes the consistency of thick oatmeal,
then add 1/2 t. vanilla extract. Let cool and spread in the springform pan.
Let set while you make the rest of the stuff.

Now, when I made this, it had 1/2 c. of roasted pecans, ground to a coarse meal
,
spread between the layers and sprinkled on top. Mea maxima culpa. You can
leave them off and it will be just fine.

simmer in about 3 c. water

1/3 lb. dried mangoes
1/4 c. unsulfured dried apricots

press all of the water out of the softened dried fruit. Reserve about 1/3 of
the fruit for topping. Puree in a food processor 2 10oz. bricks Mori-Nu low
fat extra firm tofu and the rest of the fruit. Drop in spoonfuls onto the
'crust', and spread very gently to form a smooth layer.

Puree the reserved fruit and about 1/4 c. all-fruit apricot preserves, adding
enough liquid (mango water) to make a thick glaze. Spread on top of the tofu
layer. Sprinkle with roasted pecan fragments. Let set for at least two hours
and slice carefully.