Skip to main content

OLIVE that We're Friends!

Okay, so I embraced my penchant for cheesy wordplay for Ulla's birthday treat, baking a quasi non-traditional olive oil cake accompanied by an "OLIVE that we're friends!" card. I write 'non-traditional' because this Italian cake is typically made with cherries; all I had in the fridge were blueberries. And Italians don't usually make cakes with grano duro (whole wheat). Still, it smells delicious. Hope she likes it.

Olive Oil Cake
3 large eggs
1 1/2 C organic granulated sugar
1 T pure vanilla extract
3/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 C white whole wheat flour
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
1/3 C polenta
2 1/2 C fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter whatever cake pans you want to use. I opted to make mini bundt cakes. Beat eggs and sugar till lightened in color. Add vanilla, olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to egg mixture, along with polenta. Mix until combined. Pour two thirds of batter into prepared pan, and completely cover it with blueberries. Spoon remaining batter over blueberries, allowing fruit to peek through in spots. Bake until top and edges are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely on rack

Comments

  1. An olive oil cake sounds really neat. I bet it went well with the blueberries.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Lisa, traditionally it's made with cherries, but the blueberries worked well, too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hot Chocolate Agasajo-Style {Spice It Up!}

photo by D For my Spice It Up! kiddos this week, I was looking for an exotic drink to serve while we learned about saffron. I found a recipe from food historian Maricel Presilla that mimicked traditional Spanish hot chocolate from the 17th century where it was served at lavish receptions called agasajos . When I teach, I don't always get to shoot photos. Thankfully, D grabbed my camera and snapped a few. Ingredients serves 14-16 1 gallon organic whole milk 3 T dried rosebuds - or 2 t rosewater 2 t saffron threads, lightly crushed 3 T ground cinnamon 3 whole tepin chiles, crushed 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate Procedure In a large soup pot that can hold a gallon plus, combine milk, dried rosebuds (or rosewater, if you are using that), saffron threads, ground cinnamon, chiles, vanilla beans, and sugar and warm over medium heat till it steams. Whisk to dissolve sugar, then lower heat an...

Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream

As we headed inland from the coast, I cringed as the temperature gauge in the car for outside temp climbed into the triple digits. Ugh. I'm a rather wimpy central coastal Californian who begins to wilt when it's 70 degrees outside. Thank goodness for air conditioning and a planned ice cream stop. When I parked the car outside Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream in Santa Rosa, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We knew that we still had to get to the campsite...and set up our tents in the heat. But we were going to enjoy the cool, sweet treats from Frozen Art first! Michoacana ice creameries are the equivalent of Starbucks in Mexico; they're ubiquitous. Purists, however, claim that operating a true Michoacana ice cream shop require ties to Tocumbo. It's estimated that almost ninety percent of the Tocumban population is currently employed in the ice cream business from making ice cream itself to making equipment. But the real art of Tocumban ice creams: imaginat...

A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige #ItalianFWT on CulinaryCam.Com

I am in the process of migrating over to my new domain. Come on over to read " A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige " for December's #ItalianFWT.