Rosemary Olive Oil and Chocolate Chunk Cake

i had the baking bug today. after catching up on a bunch of food blogs i missed while i was gone i decided i had to bake. originally i wanted to bake bread. after "in defense of food" i decided i wanted to bake my own bread. this brings back memories of being made fun of by my friends in college for bringing a bread machine to our sophomore year apartment. i think i baked 2 loaves of bread before i gave up. but i have moved on from that experience and after perusing the bread isle in wegmans and finding no suitable bread without some sort of questionable or unpronounceable ingredients (short of ezekial bread), i made up my mind to start baking bread. plus, it makes your house smell amazing. it's a win-win really.

alas, i discover i don't have any yeast so i had to satisfy my baking desire with something else. so, what better to do that than cake? after reading sarah over at blue ridge baker go on and on about this olive oil cake i had to try it despite the somewhat interesting ingredients. a cake with olive oil? rosemary??? and chocolate??? i had to try it and see for myself. i made a few tweaks but the result was surprising. . .

each bite was quite complex. i tasted the rosemary right of the bat. then the olive oil says hello, followed by my favorite - the creamy chocolate taste kicks in. seriously every bite was layers of flavor. very interesting - i have never tasted anything quite like it.

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Rosemary, Olive Oil, and Chocolate Chunk Cake

adapted from Blue Ridge Baker

3/4 cup spelt flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup olive oil

1 cup buttermilk (i used milk with a squeeze of lemon and let it sit)

1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

butter and flour a 9" round cake pan.

in a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and rosemary. whisk to combine. in another bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and olive oil. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. whisk until just combined. fold in chocolate and pour batter into cake pan.

bake for 40-45 minuted until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. let cool completely before slicing and serving.