Trends expert Gurdeep Loyal discovers chocolate bitters

Date and pecan loaf cake with chocolate bitters

MAKES 1 LOAF | PREP 20 MINS COOK 1 HR | EASY

200g self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g toasted pecans, finely chopped, plus extra to serve

200g date syrup

225ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tbsp

1 tbsp chocolate bitters (I used Fee Brothers), plus 2 tsp

100g soft light brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

125g icing sugar

1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 900g loaf tin (12cm x 20cm) with baking paper.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarb, pecans and ¾ tsp of fine sea salt. Set aside.

3 Put the date syrup, olive oil and 1 tbsp of chocolate bitters in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for 2 mins until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, if needed.

4 With the mixer turned down to medium, add the brown sugar a tablespoon at a time, then very gradually pour in the beaten eggs. Whisk for a final minute until a smooth, consistent batter forms.

5 Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the dry ingredients a little at a time with a spatula until there are no dry patches. Pour the batter into the loaf tin.

6 Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hr or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Check in after 30 mins and, if it’s overly browning on top, cover loosely with foil. When fully baked, leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

7 For the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, 2 tsp of chocolate bitters, 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of hot water. Drizzle over the cooled cake and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

PER SLICE 10 543 kcals | fat 34.1G saturates 4.8G | carbs 52.3G | sugars 35.7G fibre 1.8G | protein 5.8G | salt 0.8G

Gurdeep Loyal is a food and drink trends specialist who built his career working at Harrods Food Halls, Innocent Drinks and M&S Food. He’s also a food writer and curator of online platform Mother Tongue, with his first recipe book set for release next spring. @gurd_loyal What is it? Chocolate or cocoa bitters is made by infusing alcohol with cocoa beans and botanicals such as cloves, cinnamon and liquorice. How to use it? It can be used to add spiced chocolaty notes to cocktails, pairing well with whiskey-, vermouth- and cognacbased drinks. It’s loved by mixologists at bars including The Goring Hotel in Mayfair, Seed Library in Shoreditch and Amor y Amargo in New York, where it’s used to enliven classics such as the old fashioned, manhattan and negroni. You can also use bitters in the same way as vanilla or rosewater in baking to add a herbalchocolaty dimension to sponges.