Photo by Brendan Patrick

This week’s recipe comes from one of our newer vendors, Brendan Patrick of Belle Chocolates. Long a chef, Brendan recently began making his own chocolates and decided to make his side venture a full time business.

This recipe marries the bold flavors of rosemary (ask your farmer for some if you don’t have a rosemary plant of your own) and 80% chocolate into a bread that’s beautiful. Thanks Brendan!

One of the things that led me to the world of Bean-to-Bar Chocolate making was the severe lack of commercially available chocolate that met my high standards for quality ingredients as a chef. But that is no longer a problem! Using locally made, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate will elevate any recipe you use it in. Now you can elevate your baking using high quality, organic chocolate, made right here in Chattanooga.

Dry ingredients:

• 3/4 cup spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Wet ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 ounces (two bars) of Belle Chocolate 80% Dark, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons sugar for top crunch

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Rub a 9” loaf pan with olive oil (and/or line with parchment paper).

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring any bits of grain or other ingredients left in the sifter back into the bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the olive oil, milk and rosemary and whisk again. Using a spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry, gently mixing just until combined. Stir in 2/3 of the chocolate. Pour the batter into the pan, spreading it evenly and smoothing the top. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate and run a fork along the length of the chocolate so that the batter envelops it just a bit. Sprinkle with the second sugar.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is domed, golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. My cake, in the alternate pan, took closer to 50 minutes. Also, just when my cake was nearly finished baking, I decided I wanted a bit more color on top. I finished it under the broiler for a minute – which caramelized the sugar on top as well and gave it a bit of crunch. Don’t walk away from the cake while it is under the broiler.

The cake can be eaten warm or cool from the pan, or cooled, wrapped tightly in plastic, and kept for 2 days.