Whole Grain Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Dark Chocolate Recipe (refined sugar-free) - Pamela Salzman Skip to content

Whole Grain Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Dark Chocolate Recipe (refined sugar-free)

whole grain olive oil cake with rosemary and dark chocolate | pamela salzman

I made this cake once to bring a friend’s house for dinner and people were stealing each other’s crumbs.  I served it to my family and my son spit it out.  Just being honest.  It would be really awesome to say that my family loves everything I make, that my 10-year-old scarfs down whole grain cakes with rosemary and dark chocolate and never, ever, ever asks for Flaming Hot Cheetos.  But alas, I live in the real world with at least one child, as well as one adult, whose palates are rather, shall we say, simple.

ingredients

 

chopped rosemary

But if I catered to the lowest common denominator in my house all the time, we’d never get to know the deliciousness that is this nutty, earthy, lightly sweet cake with a savory infusion of rosemary.  And dark chocolate!  Maybe it sounds like a weird combo to you.  I actually wasn’t sure myself when I first whisked these ingredients together, but the scent emanating from my oven was enough to convince me that this is a very tasty cake.

mix wet into dry

time to be baked

I love rustic desserts.  The flavors are deep and I don’t have to worry about anything looking too perfect.  And I think anything rustic lends itself better to whole grain flours.  I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce.  She uses refined flours and refined white sugar, but I actually think the cake tastes better and more interesting with whole spelt and whole wheat pastry flour, and sweetened with maple syrup.  I also don’t find myself in a sugar coma after eating a piece of this.

whole grain olive oil cake with rosemary and dark chocolate |pamela salzman

I mentioned that I have made this cake for after dinner, but I think it would also be lovely for a brunch.  Sweet and savory all in one easy-to-bake cake.  Maybe with a dollop of Greek yogurt.  Love it.  No thanks, Mr. Picky?  No problem.  More for me!

whole grain olive oil cake with rosemary and dark chocolate | pamela salzman

5.0 from 1 reviews
Whole Grain Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Dark Chocolate Recipe
Author: 
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup unrefined, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil + extra for greasing pan
  • ¾ cup whole spelt flour (or use all purpose)
  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup Grade A maple syrup or natural cane sugar*
  • 1 ½ teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • ¾ cup whole milk or unsweetened hemp milk, at room temperature
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped (measure, then chop)
  • 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), chopped into ½-inch pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with olive oil.
  2. Whisk the dry ingredients (including cane sugar, if using) in a large bowl. Set aside.
  3. In another large bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the maple syrup (if using), olive oil, milk and rosemary and whisk again.
  4. Using a spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry, gently mixing until combined. Stir in chocolate. Pour the batter into the pan, spreading evenly and smoothing the top.
  5. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until the top is domed, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. The cake can be eaten warm or cool from the pan, or cooled, wrapped tightly in plastic, and kept for 2 days.
Notes
*If using cane sugar, add with the dry ingredients.  If using maple syrup, add with the wet ingredients.

 

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Comments

6 Comments

  1. This was a hit! I doubled the chocolate chips and my daughters loved it. The Rosemary gave it a unique taste. Thank you!

    • Doubling the chocolate chips sounds like it was a good ideA! 🙂

  2. This looks delicious! I would need to make this gluten free. I can use the cup 4 cup for the flour but what should I sub for the whole wheat flour? Thank you!

    • You can use Cup4Cup or any GF flour blend for all the gluten flour in the recipe. But I would add in some xanthan gum for sure if you use something other than Cup4Cup, which already contains xanthan gum.

  3. hi pamela! my daughter has asked that i bake a plain chocolate chip cake, and i actually don’t have any rosemary. could i just omit the rosemary and make this cake otherwise as-is? or would you recommend adding some sort of other flavor to it? thanks in advance!

    • I suppose you can take this as a plain cake, but it is not super sweet. I like it, though!


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I come from a large Italian-American family with 28 first cousins (on one side of the family!) where sit-down holiday dinners for 85 people are the norm (how, you might ask – organization! But more on that later …).

Some of my fondest memories are of simple family gatherings, both large and small, with long tables of bowls and platters piled high, the laughter of my cousins echoing and the comfort of tradition warming my soul.

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