Blue Cayenne

If chocolate rocks your world, this is the cake for you. 

It is decadently bittersweet with a poundcake texture. The frosting is to die for. For this recipe, I used  Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate and Double Dutch Cocoa; both were purchased from King Arthur Baking. 

This recipe if from David Lebovitz’ newly revised cookbook, The Great Book of Chocolate. You can buy this cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

Lebovitz is the author of a number of great cookbooks including My Paris Kitchen, The Perfect Scoop, Ready for Dessert and Drinking in French. He was a pastry chef at the famed Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley. He currently lives and bakes in Paris and writes a wonderful newsletter you can find on Substack here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.

Tahini. 

Tahini is a nutty-flavored sesame paste.

Think you are unfamiliar with tahini? In all likelihood, you’ve  probably enjoyed it in hummus or baba ghanoush. 

For purists, the best tahini is made from ground and roasted humera sesame seeds from Ethiopia. This bias in favor of Ethiopian sesame seeds rests upon the belief that  the flavor and texture of the paste is dependent upon the soil where the seeds are grown–the terroir. The tahini’s flavor is affected by the minerals in the soil and the health of the soil. Likewise the seeds need to be properly ground and roasted to maximize the quality of the tahini. I use a brand called Soom for my recipes. Soom is available in some specialty stores and online. Recently, a chef friend recommended the Har Bracha brand. I’ve just added it to my pantry. We’ll see.

Classically, tahini is used plain in recipes, but it is also available in several other varieties–whole grain (ground with the sesame husks intact), green (mixed wth spices and olive oil) and made into a chocolate spread. 

Nutritionally, tahini is a mixed bag. It is high calorie and high fat. The fat, however, is considered a “good fat” like the fat in avocados and nuts. Good fat helps lower cholesterol, fights inflammation and supports brain health. Tahini is also a source for vitamin B, magnesium, iron and calcium. 

In addition to tahini’s traditional savory uses like hummus, there are a number of wonderful sweet recipes that incorporate tahini. These blond brownie-like cakes are one great example, but you can simple drizzle it on frozen yogurt or ice cream to achieve a solid delicious shell.

This is not Blue Cayenne’s first exploration of recipes with tahini. Type tahini into the search bar on this page  and you will find a number of choices including Beets, Celery, Apples and Tahini Salad, Tahini and Miso Butter Baked Pears, Tahini and Honey Banana Bread, and a recipe for a killer Hummus. 

This Tahini and Chocolate Chunk Cake is a New York Times recipe. You can find the original  here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldies But Goodies recipe is for an unusual but truly delicious Broccoli Cornbread . It’s a keeper.

Here is the link: Broccoli Cornbread.

Want to dive deeper into our recipe archive? Just click one of the categories at the top of this page or use the category search drop down menu on the right side of this page.

And…here is a link to Blue Cayenne’s main page:Blue Cayenne Food and Photography Blog. . If you are in the mood to cook (or eat!), we hope you will take a moment to look at the many excellent recipes we have featured.