In my house, olive oil, zest and the juice from citrus, generally means – marinate the chicken breasts and light the BBQ. However, today, I used these few ingredients in a whole new way. In a cake!
The fusion of the citrus zest and the olive oil, mixing around in my kitchen aid, permeated my kitchen with the most wonderful scent. I could not wait for this cake to emerge from the oven.
I am going to make this cake over and over again. Next time, mini olive oil citrus cakes, anyone?
adapted from rustic fruit desserts
1 8″ cake
ingredients:cake
1 1/4 cups unsifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbls plus 3/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 grapefruit
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup extra-virgin olive oilglaze
3/4 – 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbls. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
instructions:
• preheat oven to 350*. using a paper towel, coat a 8″ round baking pan with olive oil, then sprinkle with one tablespoon of sugar. set pan aside.
for the cake
• sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, twice.
• using your mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and the zests on high speed for 5 minutes, until the eggs thickened.
• add the vanilla, turn the mixer down to low speed and add the olive oil into the batter, pouring slowly along the edge of the bowl.
• add the flour and mix on low speed until incorporated. pour into prepared pan.
• bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake is golden and has domed in the center. cool to room temperature.
for the glaze
• sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. whisk in the grapefruit juice to combine. pour over the cooled cake.