Rosemary loaf cake

As much as I love the flavour of rosemary, and as happily as it thrives year-round in our garden, I don’t actually cook many dishes that call for it. Roast lamb, beef stroganoff, maybe a couple of stalks in a tray of roast potatoes – that’s about it.

Which is why rosemary loaf cake was one of the first recipes I cooked from  Nigella Lawson’s How To Be a Domestic Goddess. I wouldn’t have thought of baking with rosemary, but found that I loved its slightly astringent taste paired with the buttery sweetness of the cake.

Since then, I always make rosemary loaf cake at this time of year to eat with applesauce and a dollop of whipped cream – an autumnal take on strawberry shortcake.

Rosemary loaf cake
(about 12 slices)

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar (plus a few tsp extra to sprinkle on top)
• 3 large eggs
• 300g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 4 Tb milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and line a medium (2 lb) loaf tin.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and smooth.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in a teaspoon of flour after each addition.
4. Add the vanilla, then fold in the rest of the flour with a rubber spatula.
5. Fold in the chopped rosemary.
6. Thin the batter with milk until it has a dropping consistency.
7. Scrape the batter into the tin and sprinkle the top with sugar.
8. Bake for about one hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the tin.

Tags: Nigella, rosemary, vegetarian