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".

[sam]

I didnt know that about the pound cake - that's a BIG cake! The syrup souds more than good, I might have to give it a try!
PS thanks again for the little silver balls yo sent me. They got an airing today on my blog.
They helped create the magic!

[May]

Thalie, it's a quartre-quarts recipe in French.

So you mean 2 cups of cake flour, right? Not 2 cups of cake and 2 cups of pastry flour? They are different things, and pastry flour has more gluten then cake flour but less than all-purpose.

[lyn]

May,

I mean just 2 cups of flour. I didn't know that "cake flour" and "Pastry flour" were differn't. The stuff I buy is called "cake and pastry flour" I wonder if its something in the middle?

[Yasmin]

WOW, that combination sounds fabulous and very inventive. I love the idea of rosemary ice cream too! I'm ready to preheat my oven AND get out my ice cream maker. Thanks for an inspiring post!

[RandySea]

I've been looking for a source for French flour #55 for making puff pastry. A local (Seattle) baker suggested 2/3 all purpose flour mixed with 1/3 cake flour. Then you still have to adjust to get the consistency needed, since all purpose and cake flours will vary in gluten content from one brand to the next.

[Jeanne]

Wow - that looks gorgeous. And yes, rosemary & chocolate is an awesome combination. In Barcelona last summer I had a cold chocolate and rosemary soup for dessert - the rosemary took the edge off the chocolate so it didn't get cloying towards the end. Fabulous.

[Planet Art]

I have been on a low carb diet for two days. On day 14 -- after I'm so sick of low carb I can't stand it anymore -- this cake will be the first thing I will make. It looks divine.

[Ava Thorne]

I've gotta try this cake. I'm on a roll with making pound cakes. I have a problem. I have a receipe for a Cornmeal Pound Cake with Rosemary Sauce. I have the pound cake receipe but I lost the instructions for the Rosemary Sauce that goes along with the cake. Do you think that this Rosemary Sauce receipe would work just as well?

[John]

2/3 cup cake flour plus 1/3 cup all-purpose should be similar to 1 cup pastry flour.

[Karen]

Made this cake and found it did not rise as nicely in the middle. I'm wondering if I should take out 1/2 tsp of baking soda and replace with 1/2 tsp more of baking powder, since there is no acid in this cake. (Baking soda neutralizes acid)

Flavor, by the way was GREAT!

What size pans did you use and how much did you fill them?

Thanks!

[Liz]

I just tried this (the batter in the bowl was wonderful!), but it overflowed the 8" loaf pan and after an hour what was in the loaf pan was still mostly uncooked. Can you tell me what size and how many pans you used? Thanks!