Olive Oil Cake

This Discover Cooking with California Olive Oil Recipe Contest submission comes from Janet LaPlante of We Olive Ventura which she describes as “The most moist, delicious citrus,lemony cake!”

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 Large eggs
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 cup We Olive Lemon Olive Oil (or mix 1/2 We Olive Mission and 1/2 We Olive Lemon Olive Oil
• 1 ts. lemon zest (I add a little more for extra lemon flavor)
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10″ round and 2″ deep cake pan. Set a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside, then butter parchment and dust pan with flour. Set aside. Beat eggs in a large mixer bowl using the whisk attachment until frothy. Gradually add sugar and beat on high seed until mixture is ale and leaves a ribbon when you lift whisk. This can take up to 6 or so minutes. Scrape bowl halfway through.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk milk, oil and lemon zest and juice together in a large measuring cup. Add one-third of the dry ingredients, then half of wet ingredients to egg mixture beating after each addition until smooth; continue until all are added and stop a couple of times to scrape inside of bowl.  Pour batter into prepared pan and set in oven. Immediately turn down heat to 350 degrees. Bake until cake pulls away from sides and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean 50-55 minutes.

3. Cool on rack 15 minutes, then loosen cake from pan with a knife. Turn out onto a plate, remove parchment and carefully place cake back into rack. Let cool completely. Slice into wedges and serve with berries and other seasonal fruit that has been soaked in We Olive Aged Balsamic for approximately one-half hour or longer to create a sweet fruity syrup that will be soaked up by the cake!