Here we are, well into February and baking the next delicious cake from Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes - Olive Oil Cake with Citrus Zest. This one is a winner.
The texture is wonderful - soft and almost airy, but with substantial flavor. Not quite a pound cake. Much lighter. It has a tablespoon (!) of baking power and rises nicely.
You get a hint of citrus zest (orange and lemon) and the simplicity of the cake is its beauty (and deliciousness).
I had all of the ingredients in my cabinets and refrigerator and didn't even have to go to the store. I love that.
The basics ingredients are flour, lots o' baking powder, sugar, eggs, extra-virgin olive oil, milk, orange and lemon zest, and orange juice.
You squeeze the orange you zested to get that orange juice, so nothing goes to waste. Of course, I love to quarter the squeezed orange and devour that good orange pulp. Yum.
You may cringe at 'olive oil,' but it's light in flavor and really enhances the cake. It doesn't have that olive-oily flavor, either. Don't forget that it's more heart healthy than vegetable oil or butter!
Hey, did I tell you I made frosted brownies for my husband for Valentine's Day? It called for ¾ cup of oil and, oops, I only had ¼ cup. So I said, 'what the heck,' and used olive oil for the last ½ cup. They were wonderful. And I felt a little better slathering on the frosting afterwards.
I digress.
This cake is so simple, so incredibly good. I had a slice warm out of the oven that was delicious, then had a room temperature slice that was equally delicious. You can't go wrong with this Olive Oil Cake with Citrus Zest.
By the way, in the book, the French title is Gâteau à l'Huile d'Olive. So there.
Aleksandra Crapanzano has so many awesome-looking cake recipes in this new cookbook. I can't wait to see what our choices are for next month!
Be sure and check out the other Cake Slice Bakers' cakes from this month (listed below the recipe). And tune in next month for another amazing, simple French cake.
Olive Oil Cake with Citrus Zest
Lightly citrus, beautifully-textured cake. Simple ingredients with a simply delicious result.
Ingredients
- 2 Cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ Cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ Cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ Cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- Juice from zested orange (about ¼ cup-ish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and line it with parchment paper. Flour the buttered sides of the pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a stand mixer at medium speed, beat the sugar and eggs until fluffy and pale yellow (about 2 ½ to 3 minutes).
- Turn the mixer to low and one by one, add the olive oil, milk, orange and lemon zests, and juice. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat for another minute or two, until completely blended and smooth.
- Fold in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula by hand until just blended.
- Pour the batter (it will be a fairly thin batter) into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- If you have leftovers, store at room temperature.
Notes
Wanted to mention again that this recipe uses 1 TABLESPOON of baking powder. That's easy to miss if you're used to using a teaspoon full.
My medium-to-large orange was pretty juice and gave me a little over ¼ cup of juice.
Change up the flavors if you'd like - all lemon, or all orange. Aleksandra says she even uses Meyer lemon zest or Yuzu for a change.
Best served simply, but a dollop of homemade whipped cream and/or macerated fruit would be good on it, too.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 290Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 244mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 5g
Nutrition Values are Approximate
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
It is a new year and a new book - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes - and our choices for February 2023 were ~
Olive Oil Cake
Chocolate Spelt Cake
Dorie and Pierre's Ipsahan Cake
What a lovely cake! And how awesome that it uses pantry staples!
What beautiful crumb on that cake. It looks perfect.
Thank you Wendy! The texture of this cake is great (and tastes good, too!).
I'm so happy to hear this one was wonderful! I do have all of the ingredients too! Your cake looks so gorgeous too.
Thanks Karen. I like everything about this cake!
What a delicious looking cake!