Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Chocolate

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge which is guest hosted by Linzi from Lancashire Food chose the theme 'new ingredient' ie a new ingredient paired with chocolate that you've not tried before. I've baked a lot with chocolate and have tried many combinations so my thoughts turned to herbs. I know rosemary and chocolate is a fairly common combination but it's not one I've tried previously so I was excited to try it out plus it would fit the challenge and quite a few other blog challenges too! 

A quick google search brought me to this delicious looking cake which I knew I had to try. It's a very unassuming cake. Not much to look at but it sure packs a punch in terms of flavour. Everyone who ate the cake said it was absolutely delicious. The rosemary flavour is strong but not overpowering. The little bits of chocolate complements the rosemary rather than opposing it. The cake itself tastes "healthy" especially with the wholemeal and spelt flour. Definitely a very successful recipe and one that I will be making again without a doubt. 

As mentioned, I'm entering this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Linzi from Lancashire Food who chose the theme 'New Ingredient'. We Should Cocoa is the brainchild of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. 

As it contains rosemary, I'm also entering it to Cooking With Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

I think this cake also fits the theme for this month's Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and eating this cake definitely makes you feel virtuous even though it's cake! 

As this cake is made from scratch, I'm sending it to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior.

The One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen and Laura from How to Cook Good Food has the theme of "Healthy Recipes" As far as cake goes, I think this is fairly healthy as it contains no butter and other healthier ingredients.

You know how much I love a multi blog challenge recipe so I'm going to send this to Tea Time Treats guest hosted by Jane from The HedgeCombers and run by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is eggs, eggs, eggs! This recipe contains 3 eggs and it's a perfect tea time treat.

 caster sugar, spelt flour, olive oil, wholemeal flour, milk, rosemary, eggs, dark chocolate 

 flour mixture on left, rosemary milk mixture on the right and chopped dark chocolate 

 ready to go in the ove

 It's a plain looking cake but it's really tasty 

 You can see the lovely crumb texture and the bits of hidden chocolate 

Recipe adapted slightly from local belle

120g spelt flour
230g wholemeal flour
170g caster sugar
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
2.5 tablespoons chopped rosemary
140g dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup milk
1 cup olive oil
3 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and add in the olive oil, milk and rosemary. 
• Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Stir in the chopped chocolate.
• Pour the batter into a round cake tin or a loaf tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Cinnamon and Date Cake

The festive baking continues and this time I have a really simple recipe that will be guaranteed to impress. If you are short on time, whizz up this cake and impress your guests. It's a very simple cake but it's full of flavour. The cinnamon is subtle but definitely present and the dates gives the cake a lovely, sweet stickiness and more importantly does not taste like dates!

I'm entering this to several blog challenges

One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and co hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen. The ingredient this month is dates.

The Spice Trail :Cooking with Cinnamon hosted by Vanesther from Bangers & Mash

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and co-hosted by Laura from Laura loves Cakes. The theme this month is Jingle Bell Rock.

Four Seasons Food hosted by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat your Veg. The theme this month is Party Food. This would be really quick and easy to make and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

Let's Cook Christmas Party Food hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is cooking with Herbs and Christmas spices so I think my cinnamon will qualify.

 Boil the dates in water 

 whizz in a food processor 

 I bought this cake tin from Ikea

 ready to go in the oven 

 It was a little burnt so I covered it with icing and festive sprinkles! 

 

Recipe adapted from about.com 

300g pitted dates

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

170g butter

375g self raising flour

4 eggs

200g light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

• Preheat the oven to  180C.
• Place the dates in a medium sized saucepan and fill with enough water to cover the dates.
• Bring to the boil and remove from the heat.
• Drain the dates and whizz in a food processor until it has a paste like consistency.
• Add softened butter, eggs and sugar to the food processor and mix.
• Add in the flour and baking powder and continuing mixing until well mixed.
• Pour into a cake tin and bake for about 40 - 50 minutes (depends on the size of your tin). Do keep an eye on your cake as it browns quickly - I'd recommend checking after 20 minutes and then at 5-10 minute intervals as you may need to cover the cake with foil.
• Decorate with icing sugar and sprinkles or leave plain. 

Almond, chocolate chip and berry mix oat cookies

I created this recipe specially to enter into multiple blog challenges this month. It's based on a recipe that I previously devised and I have to say that this combination was particularly tasty. Everyone at work loved it! The cookies were crumbly and buttery with an almost melt in your mouth quality. I love the mix of dried berries & cherries and chocolate chips and the crunch from the almonds. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Oats.

 

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge is guest hosted by Rebecca from BakeNQuilt. She chose the theme 'cookies' which I was really pleased about as cookies are my favourite treat. The challenge is created by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog.  

November's Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked has the theme of 'Dried Fruit'. These dried berries & cherries will fit in nicely. It's Tea Time Treats 2nd birthday so I hope they will enjoy this. On a separate note, Kate will be standing down from co-hosting the challenge at the end of the year so if you are interested in co-hosting this lovely challenge with Karen, do let her know. 

The One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen and co hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food has the theme of 'Fruits of the Vine'. I'm hoping that my dried berries & cherries will count! 

Finally, I'm entering it to a new blogging challenge called the Biscuit Barrel hosted by Laura from I'd Rather Bake Than... The theme this months is 'Festive and Party'  and I think these would be great at any party. 

 adding the almonds, chocolate chips and mixed dried berries & cherries 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

220g butter
150g brown sugar
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
270g oats
100g dark chocolate chips
140g dried berries & cherries
100g almonds

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
• Cream the butter and sugar until lights and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour and add the oats and mix well.
• Add this to the creamed butter mixture.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips, almonds and dried fruit.
• Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out cookie dough spaced apart on a lined baking tray.
• Bake for approximately 10 - 12 minutes until golden brown. 
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Carrot and Walnut Cake

It's birthday month again and as Kim's favourite cake is carrot cake, it was an easy choice. I used my tried and tested carrot cake recipe but added in some walnuts for flavour and texture. I also used them to decorate the sides and edges of the cake. Needless to say, the birthday girl was very happy and I've had a request to make this for someone else who tried it for next year! 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month and co-host with Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is C for carrot cake. 

I'm also entering this to the One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and co-hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen. The ingredient this month is walnuts which influenced my choice of nuts as I usually prefer pecans in carrot cake but I have to say it was very tasty with the walnuts! 

And finally to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior who asks us to make recipes from scratch. 

For the carrot cake
150ml olive oil
150g muscovado sugar
3 eggs
220g wholemeal flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
zest of 1 orange
100g raisins
250g carrots, peeled and grated
100g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped plus extra to decorate (about 80g)

For the orange cream cheese frosting
300g cream cheese
50g butter
150g icing sugar
zest of 1 orange
1-2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (depending on consistency of icing requred)

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 x 18cm sandwich tins. 
• In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, sugar and eggs until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs are slightly fluffy. 
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, bicabonate of soda and spices and add to the egg mixture.
• Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well. 
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 tins (I usually weigh them to get even sized cakes)
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back from the edge and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Meanwhile make the frosting by beating all the ingredients in an electric mixer until smooth.
• Sandwich the cakes with frosting and spread a thick layer on top of the cake.
• Decorate with toasted, chopped walnuts on the outside and edge of cake. 

Raspberry and pistachio financiers

I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages so I'm pleased that I finally got a chance to make them. I've seen financiers on a lot of blogs but have never made my own so when the letter for this month's AlphaBakes was chosen as 'R', I knew exactly what I was going to make. This is a recipe from Edd Kimber The Boy Who Bakes. I love the use of brown butter and pistachio in this recipe as it really makes this a special treat. The pistachios were really fragrant and paired well with the tart raspberries. The financiers were light, nutty and moist. An absolute treat! 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by myself this month and Caroline from Caroline Makes on alternate months. The letter is R for raspberries. 

I'm also sending these to Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes as I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages.

As raspberries are in season, I think they will also fit in nicely for Simple and in Season hosted by Ren from Ren Behan.

This is my second entry to Four Seasons Food  challenge as raspberries are in season and these little treats are perfectly portable for a picnic. The theme is Picnic Food & Outdoor Nibbles. This challenge is hosted this month by Anneli from Delicieux and on alternate months by Louisa from Chez Foti.

I've just noticed that this month's One ingredient challenge is raspberries which is perfect for this recipe too! I've not participated for a few months so it's fortuitous that Nazima from Franglais Kitchen who is hosting this month chose raspberries for June. This challenge is co-hosted by Laura from How To Cook Good Food.

 pistachio nuts, ground almonds, raspberries 

 My lovely financier mould which has been sitting in my cupboard for months!

 ground pistachio nuts and icing sugar 

 ready to go in the oven 

 yum! 

Recipe reproduced with permission from the author

Makes 12
120g butter
100g pistachio nuts
120g icing sugar
50g ground almonds
50g flour
pinch of salt
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 raspberries
Icing sugar to serve

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the butter in a medium pan set over medium heat and cook swirling the pan occasionally until the butter turns a medium brown.
• Remove from the heat and pass through a fine sieve into a small bowl 
• Put the pistachio nuts and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. 
• In a medium bowl mix together the pistachio nut mixture, almonds, flour and salt. 
• Add the egg whites and vanilla and mix together.
• Mix in the warmed brown butter a little at a time until combined.
• Divide the financier batter evenly between the muffin cups and top each with 2 raspberries, pushing them in slightly.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until springy to the touch and lightly browned around the edges. 
• Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely 
• Dust with icing sugar to serve.