Buckwheat Chocolate Loaf with Caramel Sauce
by Seasonal Simone
To celebrate the launch of our new limited-edition bar, we asked Seasonal Simone (@seasonalsimone) to create a recipe for us. She made a Chocolate and Buckwheat Loaf Cake drizzled with a deeply caramelized Chocolate Caramel Sauce. The buckwheat flour adds a unique earthiness that complements the rich chocolate, while the caramel sauce adds a velvety gooeyness.
Ingredients
Method
Chocolate and buckwheat loaf cake
150 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
40 g buckwheat flour, toasted lightly in a dry pan
Pinch of fine sea salt
150 ml full cream milk
2 tbsp black treacle
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
150 g unsalted butter, softened
100 g brown sugar
100 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
150 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
Chocolate and caramel sauce:
150 g caster sugar
185 g double cream
150 d dark chocolate, finely chopped
A pinch of sea salt
Method
Chocolate and buckwheat loaf cake
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a 23 X 12 cm loaf tin.
2. Sift together the plain flour, baking powder, toasted buckwheat flour and sea salt and set aside.
3. Heat the milk, black treacle, and vanilla bean paste in a saucepan until warm. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes on high speed). Beat the eggs in one at a time. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Fold in a little of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the milk. Repeat, finishing with the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
5. Transfer the cake mixture into the loaf tin, and smooth the top. Bake for around 45 - 55 minutes until springy and cooked through. Check with a skewer inserted into the centre (some crumbs are good as the cake is a pretty sticky one). Cover the top with tin foil for around 30 minutes to stop the top from burning.
Chocolate and caramel sauce
1. In a large, heavy-based saucepan, melt the sugar with 1 tbsp of water over medium heat. Once the sugar has melted, raise the heat until it turns into a dark amber caramel. Slowly add the cream–standing back as it will spit a little—while whisking.
2. Turn the heat down and whisk constantly until the cream and caramel become one. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and salt, whisking until dissolved. Strain the sauce through a sieve and set aside.
Slice a generous cake, pour over the warm chocolate caramel sauce and serve with ice cream.