This rich dark chocolate cake is low in fat but still lusciously moist and flavorful. It is just the right size for a family dinner or other small gathering. Dust it with powdered sugar, top with whipped cream or decorate it as pretty sunflower.

A Sunflower Cake on a glass platter sitting on a stick mat in the garden, viewed from above.

A Weed in the Herb Garden

In the herb garden just outside my kitchen window, a weed sprouted. I wasn’t sure what it was. This plant was different from everything else that was growing there. It grew singularly upright and seemed to be minding it’s own business. It wasn’t invasive and didn’t cast shade on anything I valued so I left it alone.

As it grew it looked rather awkward. The weed was tall and lean with rough homely leaves on a gangly stalk, sprouting up in a bed of basil, parsley, oregano and other compact and pretty herbs. The stalk continued to grow without much promise and it stuck out like a sore thumb. From neglect as much as anything, I left it to its own devices.

In time I recognized it as a sunflower plant. Having had bad luck with sunflowers I assumed it would blossom and open a large heavy head which would soon droop and bow to the ground. I thought of pulling it up, but I never did. Sunflowers are pretty and, though this one was growing in an odd location, I knew if it survived I would enjoy looking at it. Eventually I invited it to stay.

A volunteer sunflower that grew in my herb garden.

What I Thought I Knew About Sunflowers

When the ungainly stalk was about five feet tall it formed a flower head. The shape was interesting and I began to take notice. From my kitchen window, day by day, I watched it get larger and begin to take on color as it gradually opened and unfurled its petals. I was wrong about it having blossoms too heavy for the stalk to support. This sunflower has smaller blossoms than the ones I was familiar with and looks like it will develop at least five flowers on that one lanky stalk.

In the end that little weak and awkward weed that I thought of as an eyesore turned out to be an education and an inspiration. Little birds gather and sit on its coarse leaves. It has been a subject of my photography and its bright petals, now opening and reaching outward, make me smile.

A view inside a Sunflower Chocolate Cake with a slice cut away.

A Rich Harvest and a Pretty Sunflower Cake

The harvest from gardening is in more than the abundant produce we bring in to supplement our meals. It is also in the lessons learned from nurturing and watching the garden as it grows. Along the way we come to appreciate the little surprises that turn out to be God’s quiet blessings.

This Sunflower Chocolate Cake reminds me of that blessing. It is easy to make at this time of year, especially if you have sunflowers in your garden that you know were grown pesticide-free. If not, ask your vendor about how the flowers were grown to make sure the petals are food-safe. Sunflower petals are edible but still they may not compliment the flavor of the cake. Declining to eat them is really okay. Still you might try any that are left over in a tossed salad where the floral bitterness of the petals would be more compatible.

Enjoy!