FORTY-THREE : OLIVE OIL CAKE

SEPTEMBER 26 2011

I'm not sure why baking gets me so flustered. Maybe it's the clouds of flour covering the kitchen or knowing it's actually important to measure out the ingredients correctly. Of course, it doesn't help that I knocked over a full glass of water just as I was supposed to add the dry ingredients, in three additions, making sure each is fully incorporated. Panic!!

Truthfully, if I remove my baking phobia from the equation, this is a very easy recipe. Once I found cake flour (thanks Mom!), it was just a matter of whisking everything together in the correct order. First up are eggs, sugar and orange zest. Into this mix goes 2 cups (!) of olive oil.

adding 2 cups olive oil to the batter

Then the previously mentioned dry ingredients are gradually whisked in and the batter is poured into an oiled baking pan. I was a little worried cause the orange zest seemed to be collecting on the whisk instead of getting mixed in, but in the end I simply scraped it off and gave the batter a final stir with my spoon. Pouring it into the springform pan, there was a definite fruity, olive oil aroma. Yummm!

After 50 minutes in the oven, it was done. And smelled delightful! I love the little crackle on the surface and the sides were nice and crispy from all the olive oil.

crackly-topped olive oil cake

After it cooled (and after we enjoyed a completely incongruous dinner of bi bim bap and sake) we each had a slice. Pretty darn good, I must say. The subtle orange aroma mingles with a grassy richness from the olive oil. When I cut into it, it looked almost translucent... a little strange, but I guess that's correct.

translucent slice

After a few bites, I decided to kick it up a notch and drizzled my slice with a shot of homemade limoncello di crema. Damn, son! That was exactly what it needed! But it didn't take long before the sugary sweetness was just too much and hubby took care of my last few bites.

So now I am 3/4 of the way through the desserts chapter... yessssssss! Only remaining recipes are Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee (which scares me) and Tiramisu (which I am saving for Sunday Sauce). If anyone has a mini blowtorch I can borrow, I will make them some brulee!!