Olive Oil Cake with Olivelle Blood Orange Olive Oil

Olive Oil cake (adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s French Yogurt Cake)
Makes one 8.5 x 4.5” loaf or 8” pan, double recipe for a 9 x 13” pan.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar

• 2 blood oranges, 1 large navel orange or pink grapefruit, or 3 lemons

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 1/2 cup plain, whole milk yogurt (not low fat and not a strained yogurt)

• 3 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon lemon paste

• 1/2 cup Olivelle Blood Orange or Sicilian Lemon Olive Oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease the pan with butter or line with parchment paper

2. Put the sugar in a mixing bowl. Zest the fruit directly over the sugar, then rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist.

3. Peel and supreme the fruit into segments, then rub the segments to break up into vesicles. Blot vesicles dry on paper towels while you make the batter.

4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.

5. Whisk the yogurt into the zest and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time to form a smooth mixture. Whisk in the vanilla extract and lemon paste.

6. Add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture, then slowly stir in the olive oil and then the fruit pieces. You should have a smooth, shiny batter; pour it into the loaf pan, making sure to get it into the corners, and smooth the top.

7. Bake on the middle rack, 50 to 60 minutes for a loaf pan and 40-50 minutes for an 8” pan, or until the cake is golden brown and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a tester inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.

8. Cool cake for 5 minutes on a rack, then invert it to dislodge it from the pan. Turn the cake right side up on the rack; cool to room temperature. Store covered at room temperature for up to 5 days.

* Olivelle Oils & Vinegars are currently being sold in store only. Visit us at 1725 Penn Avenue to sample.