The first time I pulled this brownie from the tin the top had that faint spring you only get when the bake is just right, and the raspberries had gone soft and jammy in little pockets through the crumb. It smells like chocolate. It isn’t, quite. Carob has its own thing going on, a darker, rounder sweetness that doesn’t need much help, and on a cool autumn afternoon that’s exactly what I want next to a pot of tea.
Our executive chef James Knight serves a version of this at the Golden Door Elysia retreat, and it has stayed on the dessert list because people keep asking for it. I love it because the colour is gorgeous: deep cocoa-brown shot through with bright pink fruit, a few green pistachios scattered over the top. It looks like you fussed. You really didn’t.
What makes it sing is the orange juice. Five tablespoons of carob can taste a bit one-note on its own, and the fresh juice lifts the whole thing and gives it a lightness that keeps it from feeling heavy. If you have only ever met carob as a sad chocolate stand-in, this is the recipe to change your mind.
A word on carob, since it does the heavy lifting
Carob comes from the long, leathery pods of the carob tree, roasted and ground to a fine powder the colour of dark cocoa. The flavour is the part people get wrong. They expect chocolate and feel let down. I think that’s the wrong way to taste it. On its own carob is malty and faintly toffee-ish, with a sweetness already built in, which is why this recipe leans on so little maple syrup. A quarter cup is plenty. The pods carry a good amount of dietary fibre as well, so a wedge of this sits a little more gently than a standard cocoa brownie, and that suits the way we like to bake at the retreat. Nutrition Australia has a clear, no-nonsense rundown on fibre and wholefoods if you want the reasoning behind that.
The flour blend is what gives the crumb its character. Gluten free flour brings the structure, brown rice flour adds a gentle nuttiness and a slightly sandy, wholesome bite, and the coconut flour quietly soaks up moisture so the middle bakes through without turning to glue. Coconut flour is thirsty stuff, which is exactly why the full cup of milk and the orange juice matter here. Skimp on the liquid and you’ll end up with something dry and crumbly, and nobody wants that.
What I look for when it’s ready
This is one of those bakes where the look of the surface tells you more than the clock does. At around twenty-five minutes the top should have set into a matte, slightly cracked crust and bounce back softly when you press it with a fingertip. If it still dents and stays dented, give it a few more minutes and trust the springiness over the timer. Oven temperatures wander, tins behave differently, and a fan-forced oven will move faster than the recipe assumes. Pull it a touch early rather than late: carob can turn bitter if it’s pushed too far, the same way cocoa does. I learned that the hard way on a batch I won’t be repeating.
Ingredients
- ½ cup gluten free flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- 1 cup rice milk or 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 5 tbls carob powder
- ¼ cup pistachios, roughly chopped reserving a little to garnish
- ¼ cup crushed almonds or pecans
- 1 tbls lucama powder
- 125 g raspberries (or berry of choice)
Method
- Preheat oven to 18OoC and line the base and sides of a 20cm spring form cake tin.
- Either mixing by hand or using an electric mixer, mix all ingredients, except berries, together. Then gently fold berries into mix. Spoon into prepared tin, smooth the top and bake for 25 minutes until top is springy to touch.
- Cool in tin for 2-3 minutes then remove to a wire rack. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature. ENJOY!
Makes 10-12.
Serving, make-ahead and a few swaps
Warm from the oven this is soft and almost pudding-like, so I serve those first wedges with a spoon of coconut yoghurt and the reserved pistachios. Left to sit overnight it firms up and slices cleanly, which makes it a good one to bake ahead for a weekend lunch or to tuck into lunchboxes through the week. It keeps in an airtight tin for three or four days, and the cut wedges freeze well too, wrapped one by one so you can pull out a single piece when the afternoon slump hits.
The raspberries are perfect through summer and into early autumn, but as James says, you can swap the berry out as the seasons turn. Sliced plums are lovely and a little tart against the carob, and blueberries hold their shape beautifully through the bake. If you want more crunch, lean into the pecans instead of almonds, or fold a handful of chopped dates through for extra natural sweetness. The lucama powder is the one ingredient people don’t always have on hand; it adds a soft, almost caramel note, but the brownie still works without it, so don’t let a missing tin stop you. Carob is also a decent source of dietary fibre, which is one small reason I reach for it over cocoa more often than I probably should admit. If you are curious about building fibre into your week, Healthdirect has plain, sensible reading on it, and the Better Health Channel covers wholegrains well too.
This sits happily alongside the rest of our sweeter dessert recipes. If carob has won you over, the chia and carob cake is the natural next bake, and for something cool and creamy the macadamia and strawberry cheesecake is a favourite at the retreat. For an everyday nibble, our breakfast balls use a similar light-handed approach to sweetness, and on a slow morning I’ll pair a leftover wedge of this with a green smoothie bowl and call it a very good start to the day.
— Mei Lin, Golden Door Living kitchen
