Chocolate, olive oil & rosemary cake

This is one of my all-time favourite cakes, with rosemary and chunks of chocolate – a pairing that I adore. This is a less sweet cake, almost fudgy, with a delicate herbal back-note. It uses olive oil instead of butter – you can use a standard olive oil, it doesn’t need to be extra virgin. It pairs well with rosemary, but I have also made this by nestling a few bay leaves in the top of the batter instead. You could also replace the rosemary with orange zest or the seeds from a vanilla pod.

■ Makes 1kg loaf VEGETARIAN

250ml olive oil, plus extra for the tin

300g light spelt or plain flour

125g golden caster sugar or light

muscovado sugar

11/2 tsp baking powder

11/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 eggs

150ml milk or 150ml sparkling water

2 sprigs of rosemary, needles only, finely

chopped

150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids),

chopped into 1cm pieces

1 tbsp demerara sugar

1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

Oil and line a 900g loaf tin. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a good pinch of sea salt in a large bowl and whisk together, making sure there are no lumps.

2 Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl, then add the milk (or gradually pour in the sparkling water, omitting the eggs and milk if you want to make it vegan), olive oil and rosemary.

Mix to combine. Fold the oil mixture into the dry ingredients, gently mixing until just combined, but no more – don’t overmix.

3 Stir in most of the chocolate pieces. Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. Scatter over the rest of the chocolate, pushing the pieces down a little into the mixture so they are half covered, then sprinkle over the demerara sugar for a crunchy finish.

5 Bake for about 40 mins, or 45 mins for the vegan version, or until it is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.