Yes, I know, this sounds weird. But it is awesome. I assure you (as do my fellow members of CIA, who greedily devoured it at last week’s meeting) that it is absurdly delicious. It’s a perfect blend of sweet and savory, mixing rosemary, salt, and chocolate into a most wonderful cake/bread/dessert thing.
If you do make this, I recommend using a salt with larger crystals, such as sea salt or kosher salt. While table salt is perfectly fine, the fewer and larger crystals create little surprise explosions of delightful saltiness every few bites. It really gives the cake that extra something that makes it fun to eat. (I promise I wouldn’t use the phrase “little surprise explosions of delightful saltiness” unless I really meant it :P )
Also, be sure to use FRESH rosemary that comes on the little sprigs. One and a half tablespoons equals roughly three 3-4″ sprigs very finely chopped. If you’re really in a bind, you could try dried ground rosemary, but I can’t imagine it making a very tasty cake.
Picture by Jane at ButteredUp.com because I could never take a picture that does as much justice to this cake.
Rosemary Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cake
Recipe by Heidi at 101cookbooks.com, who adapted it from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.
(An alternate recipe can be found by clicking on the picture above.)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40-50 minutes
Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup spelt flour
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt (or sea salt)
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil (plus a little bit extra to grease the pan)
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk (2% can be substituted)
1.5 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (~70% cocoa), roughly chopped into 1/2″ chunks
2 Tbsp sugar for top crunch
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Rub a 9 1/2-inch cake pan with olive oil (alternately, loaf pans work well, too, as does most small- or medium-sized bakeware).
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the olive oil, milk, and rosemary, then whisk again.
Using a spatula, gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in 2/3 of the chocolate. Pour the batter into the oiled pan, then sprinkle with the remaining chocolate and sugar.
Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until the top is domed, golden brown, and a skewer or knife inserted into the center comes out clean.