Olive Oil Cake

 

I have wanted to bake the perfect Olive Oil cake for years, and I believe I have at last. This cake is moist, fresh and tastes absolutely fantastic!

I sprinkled it with icing sugar, it is so pretty when you do that, but if like icing as much as my other half, you can make some with a little bit of lemon juice instead of water. To keep the balance of sweet and sour.

This cake is perfect for tea, and also as we have discovered, for breakfast…

 

Ingredients:

Finely grated zest of one large lemon
250ml of extra virgin Olive Oil, warmed (NOT HOT!)
5 large eggs, separated
250ml of caster sugar
5ml vanilla essence
750ml of cake flour
10ml baking powder
250ml full cream milk

Method:

1. Add the lemon rind to the warmed olive oil and let it infuse it
2. In a large bowl, beat the yolks and caster sugar together until it is light in colour
3. Add the vanilla essence and the cooled olive oil with the zest
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix it into the egg mixture. Don’t get a fright if you think it looks wrong. It does look “crumbly”
5. Add the milk, and mix well. You will notice that it is a very thick dough. That is ok!
6. In a separate bowl, whish the egg whites until stiff, and then fold them into the mixture. Folding is important to keep the air in! Otherwise the cake will be too dense.
7. Spray a 23cm cake tin with baking spray, and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 min. after 40 min turn the heat down to 160 degrees Celsius and bake for another 10-15 min. until a knife comes out clean.

If your cake cracks at the top, don’t worry about it. That makes it look as if it came out of your grandmother’s kitchen.

Now you can either sprinkle it with icing sugar once it is completely cooled on the wire rack, or put on some lemony icing.

This is a delicious cake! You won’t regret making it.