Spelt Cakes

This is hardly just an olive oil cake. It also has chunks of dark chocolate and a generous helping of fresh rosemary. Three of my favorite things together.

It is not a particularly sweet cake, so I've been eating it for breakfast. I am not a chocolate-in-the-morning kind of person, but the dark chocolate does go well with coffee. I almost find this cake a little disappointing as a dessert because it isn't as sweet as you might expect. Traditionally, I believe olive oil cakes are meant to accompany late morning or afternoon coffee or tea, or a simple dessert for a Sunday lunch.

The spelt flour adds a hint of graininess to make this olive oil cake rustic, and the dark chocolate adds an elegance. I link you to two versions of this recipe, in case you don't have this beautiful book to pull off your shelf.

This carrot coffee cake is a variation of the carrot muffin recipe. It's definitely breakfast fare--again, not too sweet, even with the streusel topping. In addition to the spelt flour, there is oat bran in both the cake and topping, which adds some nice texture.

It was refreshing not to have the typical additions of raisins and walnuts, which I associate with most carrot cakes. If you have a farmer's market open this weekend near you, I bet you can find some good, fresh carrots, even if they're not Spring ones, just yet.