Black Garlic Chocolate Cake With Raspberry Sauce

Sigh. So here we are again. You, looking at me like I’m incorrigible, with slight disdain and a little fear. Me, looking sheepish, avoiding eye contact, shuffling my feet.

In my defense, I have a psychological condition in which I want to put savory ingredients into dessert all the time. I’m working on a way to incorporate beets, broccoli, and kale into a recipe. Not the SAME recipe. That might ruin our friendship altogether. But if I can manage to make broccoli cookies that taste really good, wouldn’t I be kind of a hero? (My definition of “hero” is a bit shaky.)

Over a year ago, I funded a Kickstarter campaign for a business in my neighborhood called “The Kitchen.” The idea was that you could pay to go and cook your own multi-course dinner, something they call “Participatory Dining.” Cooking class meets eating out, sort of. When they finally opened their doors, one of the events they had listed was a garlic-themed dinner. The dessert was a black garlic marble brownie. I did a search for the name and landed on Vanilla Garlic, in a guest post by Irvin Lin from Eat The Love for Black Garlic and Vanilla Bean Marble Brownies.

Much like black garlic, this idea fermented in my brain for about a year. I knew at least one local grocery store that carried black garlic, and every time I would pass it I was like, “Still too weird for me? Yep.”

But something in my brain broke a few months ago, and instead of walking on by, I said, “Yes, Black Garlic. I will take you home with me today.” And then I let it sit in my pantry for two months while I built up the courage. I went for a chocolate Bundt cake base because Bundt cakes make me feel safe. Whereas black garlic makes me feel like I’m walking down an unlit alley at 1 AM. In Detroit.

Since Irvin used a whole head of garlic for half of the brownie recipe, I used a whole head for the cake. Because go big or go home, right? I had read that black garlic has a molasses overtone, and since raspberries go well with chocolate and molasses, ta-da! Raspberry sauce.

This cake is pungent. As I lifted the pan from the cake, a strong, garlicky flavor wafted into my nose. So, naturally, I stuck my nose right down into the center of the cake and took a big ol’ sniff. Yep, smelled like a meat cake. Uh, perfect. Just what I was looking for?

Once the cake was cool, I cooked up my raspberry sauce and doused it, then took photos before tentatively trying the cake. And I don’t hate it. Which makes me seriously question my mental state.

I think this is one of those recipes that most people are going to be like, “Nope. No. Absolutely not.” and then some total weirdo will make it and be like, “Yeah, I can get on board with this.” My theory is that if you are open to baking a cake with black garlic in the first place, you’re probably adventurous enough of an eater to enjoy it on some level. Either that, or you’re the type of person who likes to troll your friends by bringing a garlic cake to their housewarming party. You jerk.