From the Archives: Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

I made this savory-sweet cake for the first time in October of 2011, and since then I've never quite stopped craving it. I am a fan of bringing herbs into baking whenever possible, and this dessert is a great introduction to the concept for those who may be a bit hesitant.

The specific recipe I used here was passed on to me by a friend the old-fashioned, non-electronic way, but a similar version can be found here. I had to adjust the cook time to be slightly shorter when I converted the recipe into jars, and knowing me I probably added twice as much chocolate as was called for. I also used a combination of bitter and dark chocolate.

Here are a few moments from the baking process, along with the finished 4oz product:


Rosemary Olive Oil Cake (with chocolate chunks) in its early stages. I'm a little ashamed to admit I'm using Meijer-brand olive oil. Please excuse my poor-girl's pantry.





Ready to go into the oven. Ignore the rim of oil around each jar. That's all part of the delicious fun. The cakes are topped with a mix of dark and bitter chocolate for more flavor contrast, along with a generous sprinkling of white sugar to balance out the bitterness and give a pleasant texture to the tops of the cakes when they're done.





The finished product! The crunchy sugar and melty chocolate on top are the perfect complement to the rich, earthy rosemary flavors in the cake. And olive oil is good for us, right? So these could be considered a health food...?





Once they were done, I was so enamored I couldn't stop taking pictures of them. I'd recently discovered the macro lens on my digital camera at the time these were baked, so please enjoy this extreme close-up. Can you taste the awesome?