SUPER LEMONY OLIVE OIL CAKE (A SPIN ON THE CLASSIC), p. 201
My kids were looking through the cookbook and insisted I bake this cake. Since Nowruz was coming up and I wanted to contribute something to the meal my mother was making, I decided it would be this cake. That turned out to be a very wise decision, as this was loved by everyone at the celebration.
To begin, you preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a springform pan, cover with parchment, and oil again. Whisk 3 eggs, 1.5 cups olive oil, and 1 1/4 cups sugar until smooth. To this you whisk in 1 1/4 cups milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and the zest and juice of 2 lemons. In a different bowl, whisk 2 cups of AP flour, a 1/2 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, and 1 tsp of kosher salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the wet ingredients while whisking. Whisk until mostly smooth. Sprinkle the top with 1 tbsp granulated sugar and then bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. For me this took about 62 minutes. I checked at 50, 55, and 62. Let cool completely. Before serving, dust with powdered sugar and additional lemon zest. Oddly, the author says “if you have it” for the lemon zest. Since I read the recipe before proceeding, I simply zested part of another lemon for the decoration.
Anyway, when I tasted the raw batter I had my doubts, as it was redolent of olive oil but not much else. When I cut into the cake, I had further doubts about the spongey look. The weird thing is that while the sponge looked very wet, it didn’t taste that way at all. The cake was perfectly lemony, the olive oil mellowed out, and the texture was like a lighter pound cake. I think this recipe is worth the price of the book. I see myself making it again and again.
Midway through lifting a forkful to his mouth (and maybe with some of a previous forkful still in his mouth), my 4-year-old said “this is a good recipe, Mommy.” Swoon.
ETA: My cake did split/crack on the top a bit.
