31/52 Chocolate Cake with Basil and Pepper

You've known me for over 30 weeks now. Or at least you know what I've baked so far. 

All pretty normal, nothing extraordinary. 

So I decided that it's time to be brave this week (both you and me):

We're mixing chocolate with basil and pepper!

Does sound a little crazy, extraordinary, and daring, right? So will you be brave with me?

Chocolate Cake with Basil and Pepper

Adapted from Cake & Kuchen

180 g (1.5 cup) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 eggs

170 g (7/8 cup) sugar

150 g (5.3 oz) butter

100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons milk

1 handful fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon sichuan pepper

pinch of salt

• Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F).
• Melt chocolate and butter over hot water or in microwave. Combine flour, baking powder and soda. Grind pepper in mortar. Chop basil.

• Mix eggs and sugar until light yellow and doubled in volume. One after the other, add flour-mix, chocolate-butter-mix and salt, cocoa and milk, and finally basil and pepper.

• Pour dough into prepared baking pan (loaf or muffin) and bake for 40 minutes. Let cool completely.

My modifications:

None. Following the recipe was already brave enough...

The taste:

You can taste the basil in some bites, in others you can't and it is just an average chocolate cake.
The basil-chocolate combination is interesting, but it doesn't knock me over either.
I guess you could summarize it by saying that you don't need to be very brave for eating this cake.

What is the most extraordinary recipe you made? Or the craziest flavor combinations you tried?