Citrus Olive Oil Cake

I've been intrigued by the idea of using olive oil in baking - it always seemed a little decadent, to use (expensive) olive oil in a cake or cookie. Surely you wouldn't be able to tell it was in there? Surely the fruitiness of the oil couldn't come across in a baked good? I decided to find out, with this Citrus Olive Oil Cake recipe from Rachael Ray magazine (June, 2013). My test audience: a couple of friends over for game night. We learned how to play Puerto Rico after a heavy dinner of sausage and potato salad.

Sine this was a citrus cake, the first step was zesting one lemon and one orange. The recipe said 1 tsp of each, but more can't hurt, right? Then I whisked the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk 1/2 cup buttermilk (I used the ol' vinegar in regular milk trick), 2 Tbsp each orange juice and lemon juice, and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a large bowl, use an electric beater to mix 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups sugar (that's a lot!) for about five minutes on high. Then on medium speed, drizzle in 2/3 cup of the good stuff - olive oil. It gave the batter a lovely yellow hue. Mix in the fruit zests. On low speed, add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk mixture, then the other half of the flour mixture. Scrape into a greased 9" springform pan - so excited for an excuse to use mine, I never do! Bake @350 for 1 hr 10 minutes.

Once it cooled I topped the cake with vanilla sugar (I had an old packet in the cupboard that I had bought in Europe, of all places...) and placed it in my new glass cake stand from Ikea, complete with decorative sheet on the bottom. Looks good, doesn't it! This cake was lovely, it rose quite a bit so it was dome-shaped, and it was a nice yellow colour. It was like a sweet pound cake, with a noticeable citrus flavour to it. But the real question - did we taste the olive oil? I think it came through. It seemed to have an extra richness to it, especially the aroma. I would definitely make it again - it would be a great coffee cake. It stayed moist for a good 2-3 days. Just gotta keep buying olive oil on sale!