Until Stef_bakes gets back to you…I use olive oil in most of my cakes and it’s strictly a taste factor from my experience. If you only want a background note, the lighter evoo are more appropriate, in fact, most of my peeps don’t taste it at all. The only time I would use a deep flavored oil would be in a savory cake where the flavor would be more pronounced.
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A while back i made a cake with extra virgin olive oil and the taste of the oil was overwhelming. Using light tasting oil made a big difference. Note it light tasting olive oil not light olive oil. By the way, i found that the cake became moisturizer and flavours intensified as the days went by. All gone now.
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“It’s a dessert topping AND a floor wax!”
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Saffron buns, with thanks to @jammy for the suggestion (referencing the thread What Did Santa Bring). I went with the version from Magnus Nilsson’s The Nordic Baking Book (p. 276), using the master sweet dough recipe (Tove’s Version p. 258).
The author recommends using pre-ground saffron, but I was generously gifted at Christmas a jar of Top Negin saffron threads (fresh off the plane from Turkey), and I wanted to use that. I toasted the saffron in the oven, ground it with a mortar and pestle, and then soaked it in a spoonful of vodka overnight, as per the recipe.
I added the saffron mixture to the warm milk-and-butter mixture when mixing the dough, along with a pinch each of cinnamon and cardamom. Further, the author calls for “a handful” of currants. Well, I have small-ish hands but love currants, so I went with 10 T. of currants - soaked overnight - for 700 grams of dough (a half-recipe going by the book). Next time I’ll go with 8 T, as I had to work in the last few by hand. I kneaded the currants into the dough, whereas the author places them strategically on top the buns.
Lastly, I added a sugar glaze to half the buns - and egg wash to the other half – before baking.
These came out oh-so-good! I’m pleased to have made them, and will make them again.
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Those look really good! I have that book, so your success is a real push to make that recipe.
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I’m really liking the sweet dough recipe - I’ve used it also for blueberry buns (a few times). Never a fail, and it holds up well to an overnight retard in the fridge (or freezing) after the shaping.
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What kind of yeast did you use?
Active dry. I recall initially being befuddled by the amount once converted - so much! I use 24 grams ADY for the full recipe. Seems like alot, but it works.
They look scrumptious!
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Thank you - they’re quite good! 
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Cupcakes for a friend for her birthday. Her cake of choice is vanilla with vanilla frosting, and I sort of came through. A half batch of vanilla bean cupcakes using the recipe in Pastry Love (I used the Oaktown Spice Shop vanilla bean powder, a gift from my stepmother and so convenient!). The recipe calls for equal parts butter and oil and uses the reverse creaming method, resulting in a nice light crumb. The vanilla beans give a rich vanilla flavor. The cake is a bit sweet for my taste, especially paired with frosting, but perfect for the recipient.
I didn’t feel like just doing a vanilla frosting, so I made cherry- vanilla ermine icing by beating in a spoonful of cherry jam. I use this recipe for ermine icing, but usually reverse the mixing, creaming the butter until light and beating in the cooked flour mixture a spoonful at a time.
I’m terrible at frosting cupcakes.
ETA: I think Joanne Chang’s recipe for ermine icing has a clue for improving the looks of mine; you can see the texture looks a little curdled, though it’s actually completely smooth to the touch. Next time I’ll try just beating it for a lot longer and see if it smooths out in appearance.
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Another week, another loaf of honey oat bread. This time I used maple syrup and added vital wheat gluten. Didn’t notice a difference.
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Nice! I bet she’ll be thrilled!!
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WOW! That’s amazing!
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THAT. IS. GORGEOUS! 
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I found the Melissa Clark recipe online and followed it pretty much to the letter, with the exception of halving the vanilla and adding 1/4 tsp orange oil (not extract.) I also brushed the warm cake with syrup from the citrus peel I candied for christmas, but I had to thin it out a bit to make it brushable, so I thinned it with the much-thinner candied pear syrup. You can’t taste the pear in the finished glaze.
I had a taste this morning- v nice! It should continue to improve for its 6 PM showtime.
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It’s beautiful, mig!
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Yossy ‘s cocoa yogurt cake with a meringue topping in the style of Tartine’s sweet potato/ pumpkin loaf cake. This is a 6” version, I used 30 g. of egg white and some sugar for the meringue.
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Do you bloom the cocoa before using it? I’ve tried a few cakes where you mix the flour with the cocoa, and they’ve all been dry, even a RLB cake, so I don’t bother with them anymore.
