{"id":44394,"date":"2025-12-16T17:49:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/?p=44394"},"modified":"2025-12-21T15:06:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:06:48","slug":"chocolate-block-dessert-without-eggs-and-baking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/chocolate-block-dessert-without-eggs-and-baking\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate block dessert (Dolce mattone), without eggs and baking"},"content":{"rendered":"

At home, it was called chocolate block dessert. However, I only discovered as an adult that in Emilia-Romagna, this dessert is more commonly known as Dolce Mattone (literally, Cake brick).<\/span><\/p>\n

It requires very simple ingredients.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It has the aroma and flavor of old-fashioned desserts, the kind our grandmothers used to make. Although in this case, it is not the classic ciambella that is proudly displayed on a cake stand in the glass-fronted cupboard. It is, in effect, a dessert to be eaten with a spoon and refrigerated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mattonella, or chocolate block, is one of the simplest recipes you can make in what I call home baking.<\/span><\/p>\n

An expression that I don’t think exists, but which I use every time I talk about a homemade dessert that has ambitions but has remained in its natural environment within the home. Mattonella is not a dessert you find in restaurants or displayed in pastry shop windows.<\/span><\/h5>\n

My home Chocolate block dessert and Dolce Mattone from Emilia-Romagna<\/h4>\n

In Emilia-Romagna, Dolce Mattone is a dessert made of alternating layers of chocolate cream and yellow cream, separated by dry biscuits. There are many versions. Some use custard, others mascarpone, fresh eggs without prior cooking, and then mix half of the cream with melted chocolate.<\/p>\n

The flavors used depend on personal taste and, sometimes, the seasons. Some people flavor the creams or biscuits with coffee or liqueur, and others add fresh fruit between the layers. Today, it is a popular dessert throughout Italy, not just along the Via Emilia. The shape and consistency can also vary greatly from recipe to recipe. For some, the mattonella has the shape of a semifreddo, for others it is a rectangle or a square. Sometimes it is so soft that it has to be taken directly from the mold, like a tiramisu. Other times it is a dessert that, while remaining soft, is cut into slices.<\/p>\n

For me, it tastes like home. It was the dessert we had for Sunday lunch with the family, just us and a menu that, looking back today, makes me realize how lucky I was. Or at children’s parties. It was a dessert I often took to school or to the parish for special events.<\/p>\n