Recipes for Readers – Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Dark Chocolate from Molly MacRae

 

As Allison Brook, Marilyn Levinson writes the wonderful Haunted Library mystery series. She’s generous when it comes to sharing chocolate references in the books. Her protagonist, Carrie Singleton, makes Double Chocolate Brownies in several of them, including Read and Gone (book 2) and Death on the Shelf (book 5). In that book, Marilyn also lets an unfortunate wedding guest die at the reception after face planting in a three-tier chocolate fountain. These books are highly entertaining.

I shared a recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Brownies in the July edition of Recipes for Readers that I think Carrie Singleton would like a lot. This month, in memory of Marilyn’s poor wedding guest, and because rosemary is a traditional symbol of remembrance, here’s a recipe for a thoroughly delicious cake featuring rosemary and chocolate.

Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Dark Chocolate

Ingredients

¾ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup olive oil

¾ cup milk (2% or reconstituted nonfat dry milk is fine)

1 ½ tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

5 ounces semisweet, bittersweet or a combination of chocolates, chopped into ½ -inch chunks

1 ½ tablespoons sugar to sprinkle on top for crispy crunch

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Line a 9 ½ -inch spring form pan with parchment paper.

Mix the first five ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

In another large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the olive oil, milk, and the rosemary and beat again.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, gently mixing until just combined. Stir in two thirds of the chopped chocolate, reserving the other third for the next step.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate and the 1 ½ tablespoons sugar over the top.

Bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. At this point the cake will be pale.

Run the cake, still in the pan, under the under broiler to caramelize the sugar—browning the crown and giving the cake a nice top-crunch. Watch the cake carefully while it’s under broiler.

Eat warm, cooled, or cold. The cake will keep—leftovers? Ha!—wrapped in plastic.