I think I’m a chipmunk, a squirrel or maybe a hamster. Every day is autumn season for me. Why do I say that? Becaues I stock food like supermarkets aren’t going to exist the day after tomorrow! And then I stock so much food, cans and packets of nuts or cereal boxes start falling out and attacking me the moment I open the kitchen cabinet. What’s worse, I sometimes forget about certain items which I push all the way to the back of the cabinet in my efforts to organise it. Indeed, I take after some sad rodential creature (if there is such a word for rodent-like). But my neurotic habit of stocking up food isn’t all that bad, honest!
I was on a one-week holiday in Milan, Italy last year before Christmas and on the walk towards the city centre from the Santa Maria delle Grazie which is home to The Last Supper, Steph & I had come across a little gelateria/café/cake & coffee shop Chocolat. Located on Via Boccacio 9, it is a humble little shop famous for their daring combinations of chilli, aniseed, citrus fruit, balsamic vinegar along with classic ingredients like cinnamon and vanilla with quality chocolates like guanaja, gascon, rok lait, virgole, guanaja 70. Service is top as well with friendly, cheerful ladies who aren’t bothered if you can’t speak any Italian - they’re more than happy to crawl all over the bar and up the walls to get the perfect slab of chocolate for you! If you’d ever like to visit when you’re in lovely Milano, you can click the link above which gets you to the website for more information. Best luck is to get to Cadorna tube station. It’s really just a 5mins walk away.

The ice cream was very good, probably one of the best I’ve ever tasted, keeping with the reputation of Italian gelato. Offering a very generous range of flavours, their speciality of course still lies in their chocolate flavours - all 11 of them! The best thing about all 11 flavours is that the base isn’t another flavour like you’d find in Ben&Jerry’s or other supermarket-available ice cream brands. All 11 flavours have their base in a specific type of chocolate with a spice or added accompaniment to enhance the chocolate’s own flavour. Be careful of the Dark Chocolate and Hot Chocolate flavours, however, because Chocolat is not afraid to power it up with pure, dark, bitter chocolate and it might get a tad too intense for people who aren’t avid chocolate lovers. At the Bar, chocolates and cakes/pies/tarts are neatly displayed under warm-coloured lighting. They weren’t only gorgeous to look at. The shop ladies were very generous with their samples and having tasted the milk chocolate, we couldn’t help but grab chocolates of different flavours prettily packed in printed paper boxes. Despite the language barrier, I’d managed to get 2 slabs of chocolate, a pot of pure spiced cocoa and a tin of chocolate-flavoured tea.

Yes you heard me. Chocolate-flavoured tea leaves! Which of course, the chipmunk in me had pushed it all the way to the back of the cabinet, thinking ‘yea well I’d save the best for last’. I’m glad I did that though as now I can savour the tea in a cake. The tea on its own is quite incredible. Don’t expect to actually taste chocolate in it although you do get quite an odd flavouring in it. The aroma of these tea leaves are simply mind-blowing. Infuse some leaves with hot water then remove and literally, put your face in the mug/cup/bowl whatever you’re comfortable with using and just breathe it in - it’s chocolate heaven I swear. Inspired to whip something up in the kitchen, I took that craving for Irish Teacake and shaped it into something else. This recipe has been inspired by Delia’s Irish Tea Bread recipe from How To Cook One. I might not have followed it exactly because I was itching to do my own thing. If you don’t have any chocolate-tea around, best bet is to use Earl Grey. It brings out the flavours of dried fruit real well. Note, this may be rather similar to making a teacake, however, this recipe produces a more bready loaf which is still great for tea - warm, with butter on top. If you’re looking for a real teacake, try this Tea Loaf I did a while back from Sue Lawrence.

Chocolate-Tea Tea Bread
Ingredients

3 cups self-raising flour
1 large egg, beaten with 2 tbs milk
1 cup raisins
1 cup currants
1/4 cup fruit & nut muesli
1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup and a little more chocolate-flavoured tea leaves
275ml hot water
225g dark brown sugar

Get to work the night before. Prepare the tea and soak your dried fruit (you don’t have to stick to the ones I’ve mentioned. A selection of fruit like cranberries and cherries works as well) in it with the sugar stirred in. Cover and leave overnight for it to soak. The fruit should plump up, getting all fat and juicy.
When you get up the next morning, preheat the oven to 170d Celsius.
Beat the egg with 2 tbs of milk and pour this into the bowl of tea and fruit. Mix. Sift the flour in and mix that in as well. Toast the nuts in the oven. Remove and fold this and muesli into the batter. Line loaf tin with parchment paper. Pour batter in and smooth with the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula. Bake for close to 1hr.
Remove, let cool in tin for a bit then remove to cool completely. Slice up, serve slightly warm with butter, jam or leave it naked.