Chocolate Pound Cake with Warm Rosemary Syrup

I have no idea why, but recently I've been thinking that dark chocolate and rosemary would taste very nice together. And do you know what? They do!

I originally was moving in the direction of a dark chocolate and rosemary ice cream, which I may still do, but I couldn 't find the ice cream maker anywhere, so that will have to wait. Given my great recent experience with pound cake, I thought I'd make a dark chocolate pound cake for the rosemary experiment.

Cakes loved it and so did I. I was very surprised that the rosemary taste which was quite strong, was so beautiful in a sweet syrup over the dark cake. This makes a lovely interesting cake for a very simple but unique desert.

For the cake

• 2 cups cake and pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 375 ml (1.5 cups) water, boiling
• 250 grams bittersweet callebaut chocolate, broken into pieces
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 325F.

Grease a large loaf pan and coat the greased surface with cocoa.

In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

In another small bowl, mix together water and chocolate. Stir gently every so often to melt the chocolate into the water.

Whip sugar, butter and vanilla extract in until creamy. Add eggs and continue to beat mixture on high speed until very light in colour, fluffy and all the sugar has dissolved. Turn speed of mixer down to low. Mix in 1/2 the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the chocolate mixture. Add the remaining flour mixture. Mix thoroughly. Add the last of the chocolate mixture.

Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake at 325F for one hour or until a skewer or knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, slide a knife around the edge to loosen the cake and invert the pan over a wire rack to cool for a further hour.

Serve with warm rosemary syrup poured over the top. You can also top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

For the Syrup

• 1/4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 500 ml (2 cups) water
• 1 cup sugar

Simmer the rosemary and ginger in the water over medium-low heat. It should be just barely simmering. Allow it to simmer for 20-25 minutes. Strain out the herbs and stir through the sugar. Allow the syrup to simmer over medium-low heat until reduced to about 350 ml (just less than 1 + 1/2 cups)

Place a slice of the pound cake on each plate.

Pour the warm syrup over the chocolate cake slices.

Comments

[Dawna]

I once had a restaurant-dessert that featured rosemary ice cream nuggets, about the size of a golf ball, encased in darkest chocolate. So delicious! I wouldn't have thought of a rosemary syrup, though - brava!

[tanvi]

That photograph is money! Looks so delicious. What is cake and pastry flour? Do you mean a combination of cake and pastry flours, or is there a flour that I dont know about out there?

[Jess]

Stunning. Methinks you'll be the best-looking blog in May, too. Dark chocolate and rosemary are two of my favorite flavors. And the ginger! This combo sounds amazing.

[lyn]

Tanvi:

The stuff I buy is called "cake and pastry flour" It's the same thing as "cake flour" or "pastry flour". It has shorter strands of gluten in it than does bread flour.

[Dianka]

What a creative combination! Looks divine!

[Tanna]

That syrup is so crystal clear! Chocolate and rosemary, sounds so surprising and beautiful.

[Rachael]

...drool.

[Thalie]

Ooooohhh I want it !
Why is it called a chocolat pound cake .?
Sorry, i'm french so it doesn't really mean a thing to me "pound cake", no offense ;o)
Thanks

[lobstersquad]

That looks highly delicious. Incredibly clear syrup. You´re good!

[lyn]

Thalie
pound cakes are dense, rich, buttery cakes that were traditionally made using one pound (454 grams) each of: flour, sugar, eggs, butter plus a little baking powder and maybe some vanilla. That's why they're called "pound cakes".