Sunday, April 8, 2012

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Hey tacqueaux, I'm super stoked about this blog as a place to celebrate our love of eating food and sharing our most delicious creations with each other. It's so important to have space on the Internet free of food policing and shame.

Okay, I'm going to get right to it with a cake recipe I made recently. I love lemon cake. I don't bake cakes often but when I do, it's lemon. My go-to recipe is the Blitztorte from my battered old copy of Joy of Cooking, but I wanted to try something new this time, and the idea of a cake made with olive oil was very intriguing. It also is made up of ingredients you probably already have.




Ingredients

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large lemon

1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

4 large eggs, separated

3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Method

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9"x9" square pan with some oil, then line bottom with parchment paper. Oil parchment.

Finely grate enough lemon zest to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons and whisk together with flour. Halve lemon, then squeeze and reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.

Beat together yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add olive oil (3/4 cup) and reserved lemon juice, beating until just combined (mixture may appear separated). Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture (do not beat) until just combined.

Beat egg whites with 1/2 teaspoon salt in another large bowl with cleaned beaters at medium-high speed until foamy, then add 1/4 cup sugar a little at a time, beating, and continue to beat until egg whites just hold soft peaks, about 3 minutes.

Gently fold one third of whites into yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Transfer batter to pan and gently rap against work surface once or twice to release any air bubbles. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until puffed and golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of pan. Invert pan to remove cake and peel off parchment. Cool cake for as long as you can stand it before cutting. This cake is delicious on its own but it gets really spectacular with the addition of a scoop of plain Greek yogurt on top, sprinkled with chopped almonds and drizzled with honey.

[Recipe adapted from one found on Epicurious, changed to reflect how I actually made it.]

2 comments: