I have two mental blocks in my life that I recently decided to overcome. The first is running more than 5 miles in the same stretch. For some reason, in my mind, more than 5 miles is a great running distance and not humanly possible for my body. Obviously this is a story I have made up in my mind and I plan to overcome that before the end of the year.

The second block is baking. Somewhere along the line during my teenage years, my best friend and and I decided to make a cookie cake and it turned out a gooey nauseating nightmare which has lead me to believe that I am not capable of baking. Clearly this is also a crazy fictional story considering my first attempt at a cake this weekend wasn’t half bad!

I turned by to my usual spot, 101 cookbooks, for a recipe. I’ve been drooling over the photo for Heidi’s Rosemary Olive Oil Cake for about 3 months so on Sunday I finally rolled up my sleeves, bought my first bags of spelt flour and organic cane sugar, and went to work.

Her recipe is below. The only things I changed were that I used almond milk instead of cow’s milk and I added a little bit of salt to the sugar for the crunch on top. It came out beautifully and is perfectly satisfying but not too sweet all at the same time!

Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup spelt 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 whole milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
5 ounces / 140 g bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons sugar for top crunch

Preheat the oven to 350F Rub a 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with olive oil.

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.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/rosemary-olive-oil-cake-recipe.html