every time i've opened my baking cupboard this past week, i've seen the bright blue wrapper of the dark chocolate with sea salt peeping out at me, begging to be used.
so today, i capitulated. i wanted to make something that would really bring out the salty element of the chocolate but yet contrast it with something sweet so there would be that nice sweet/salty taste in every bite. and then i remembered the delicious loaf cake of posts past. the batter has a delicious sweet vanilla flavour to it and with the sprinkling of sugar on the crust making it a little more sweeter, i felt the dark salty chocolate and the added savoury aroma of the rosemary would be a perfect complement.
and it was! i just chopped up the chocolate bar into nice chunky sized chips and popped it into the usual batter. again that aroma from the oven is enough to just make you imagine you are sitting on the porch at grandma's (that statement is obviously heavily influenced by Hollywood as in Ireland my grandma neither had a porch nor do we ever even have the weather that would encourage sitting outside on anything - porch, footpath, hammock or whatever!) it's just really good...since baking cakes with rosemary, i think it has become one of my favourite herbs. i never really experimented with it much before apart from pairing it with lamb so it is so refreshing to discover how good it is in sweet foods.
and again it didn't fail to satisfy, it was perfect in this loaf cake. each bite was a delicious combination of sweet, salty and savoury. the dark chocolate was perfect - the taste rich and smooth, the vanilla cake sweet and moist and the rosemary warm and aromatic. this loaf cake is really the perfect recipe to experiment and have fun with and so far every time i have made it the result has been delightful!
