Debs b tahini chocolate cake. (Credit: Nima Salha/Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today)
This dessert takes the best of both worlds, the very American decadent chocolate cake, and the very baladi debs b tahini (carob molasses mixed with tahini), to create something truly unique. This cake also uses two of Mesopotamia’s oldest domesticated crops, sesame and flax seed, as well as the indigenous carob tree, which families in Lebanon have been processing into molasses for centuries.
Debs b Tahini chocolate cake:
Servings: 9 squares
Preparation time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
250 grams all-purpose flour
80 grams cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
100 grams sugar
1 tablespoon flax seeds
230 milliliters carob molasses (debs kharrub)
230 milliliters oil
450 milliliters hot water
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
100 grams halawa (optional)
125 milliliters tahini paste to drizzle
Directions: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Whisk well till there are no clumps. In a separate bowl, mix together the flax seeds, hot water, debs kharrub, oil, instant coffee and apple cider vinegar. Whisk well until the oil has been incorporated into the rest of the liquids.
Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and mix well until no dry spots remain, and the batter is nice and smooth. Crumble the halawa into the cake batter (optional). Take your cake pan (can be a deep circular pan or a square pan) and use one spoonful of your tahini paste to grease the pan, making sure to get all the edges. Pour the batter into the pan. Drizzle the remaining tahini paste on top of the cake batter. Using a toothpick, you can create a swirl pattern.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing and serving. This cake is best served with rakwet ahweh (Turkish coffee) and a side of fruit. Sahtain!
