olive oil

Cornmeal Olive Oil Cake

Uncategorized

from Bon Appetit

INGREDIENTS

  • 1¼ cups olive oil
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • ⅓ cup fine-grind cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon or orange zest
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon or orange juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs

Special Equipment

  • A 9″-diameter springform pan

RECIPE PREPARATION

  • Preheat oven to 400°. Drizzle bottom and sides of pan with oil and use your fingers to coat. Line bottom with a round of parchment paper and smooth to eliminate air bubbles; coat parchment with more oil. Generously sprinkle pan with sugar and tilt to coat in an even layer; tap out excess. Whisk cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to combine and eliminate any lumps. Stir together amaretto, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl.
  • Using an electric mixer on high speed (use whisk attachment if working with a stand mixer), beat eggs, lemon zest, and 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar in a large bowl until mixture is very light, thick, pale, and falls off the whisk or beaters in a slowly dissolving ribbon, about 3 minutes if using a stand mixer and about 5 minutes if using a hand mixer. With mixer still on high speed, gradually stream in 1¼ cups oil and beat until incorporated and mixture is even thicker. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with amaretto mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Fold batter several times with a large rubber spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Scrape batter into prepared pan 9 inch springform pan, smooth top, and sprinkle with more sugar.
  • Place cake in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 350°. Bake until top is golden brown, center is firm to the touch, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40–50 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 15 minutes.
  • Run a thin knife around edges of cake and remove ring from pan. Slide cake onto rack and let cool completely. For the best flavor and texture, wrap cake in plastic and let sit at room temperature at least a day before serving.
  • Do Ahead: Cake can be baked 4 days ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Olive Oil Lemon Cake

2020

Made this for breakfast this Friday, marking 5 weeks of shelter-at-home during the COVID-19 pandemic. We got a great deal on prime aged rib-eyes and cocktails from a high end steak house selling the raw steak for about half the restaurant price, which includes curbside pick-up!

The cake itself is less sweet, where the olive oil is truly the forward flavor. I tossed in a few blueberries at the end which, of course sank to the bottom despite tossing them in flour ahead of time. I think that the bake time is too long, so they all eventually settle on the bottom. Not too much of a problem though. The extra sprinkling of sugar before baking really lent to a crisp, almost crackling top. I tried adding lemon zest on top along with the sugar, but it became bitter during baking. I would consider carefully adding thyme and subbing orange for lemon to give it a more sophisticated twist.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • ⅓ cup cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1¼ cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Handful of fresh blueberries (optional)
  1. Combine the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside
  2. With a hand mixer of stand mixer with a whip attachment, beat eggs and sugar until pale and thickened until the mix forms a ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 3-5 minutes.
  3. Slowly stream the olive oil into the egg mixture to make an even thicker batter.
  4. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the vanilla and lemon juice. Do not over mix.
  5. Fold in the blueberries
  6. Pour into a greased and lined 9-inch Springform pan. Bake for 7 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Continue to bake for a total of 40 minutes.