Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well

Olive oil cakes are essentially the only cakes I eat any more. They tend to have more flavor, better texture and less “saccharin” sweetness than regular cakes. I usually make exceptions for the kids’ birthdays by baking them my favorite gluten-free birthday cake (which uses butter or olive oil), in which case I use butter.

I astonished myself last weekend when I suddenly realized–more like discovered, I’ve never shared my favorite olive oil cake recipe (with rosemary and chocolate) on this site. Shame on me! I have two birthday cakes to bake in the next three weeks, but I will get the favorite recipe up in the next month or so.

In the meantime, try this easy recipe for a deliciously moist and flavorful cake that goes with anything and can be served any time. It has wonderful texture and a subtle lemon flavor.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole grain spelt flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/3 cup olive oil (I used extra-virgin but regular would tone down the olive oil taste if you prefer that)

1 1/4 cup milk of your choice (I used a combo of cow and coconut, but you can make the cake dairy-free by using all coconut or a combination of milk “substitutes”)

3 large eggs

2 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Glaze:

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a 9-inch cake pan (use one that’s 2″ tall). Insert a disk of parchment paper on the bottom.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then add in the olive oil, milk(s), lemon zest and lemon juice, whisking to blend after each addition.

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet, whisk only until incorporated. (Do not over blend!) Pour into the prepared cake tin and place in middle of the oven. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

When the cake has baked, remove it from the oven and set it on a rack to cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp lemon juice and drizzle the mixture over the cake.

Let cool to room temperature before serving. Note, this cake is its most “cake-like” when it’s still warm from the oven, but the flavors are better incorporated when it’s served at room temperature. You choose!

Let us eat cake!

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