- 1
Ingredients
- butter and line loaf pan with parchment paper
- 5-6 limes or 4-5 lemons
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 & 3/4 cup flour
- 1 & 1/2 tsps. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda1/4 tsp salt
- 1 generous cup of blueberries- dusted with flour
- blueberry sauce and whipped cream (optional)
Preparation
Step 1
Labor day weekend …and it’s been pretty lazy…except for my obsession with cake, a particular cake…I don’t want to say that I’m sick of fruit pies and galettes and cobblers and tarts: I’m not…but I wanted cake. It’s summer: I don’t want a fancy cake…no separating of eggs and folding in of egg whites…not me, not now: I have the perfect summer or winter or anytime cake …when you don’t want to pull out a mixer of any sort: no hand mixer or stand mixer…a whisk and rubber spatula will do…
I present to you olive oil cake! This one is citrus scented …I have made it several times this weekend…looking for perfection This cake has many positive attributes: it’s super easy to make and quick: especially if you are not at home …say a rental cottage in Maine or at the shore and all you have is a whisk or fork and a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, it’s moist and keeps well AND it travels well (thank you Joyce!) - I walked it down the block and it made the trip splendidly…no honestly…pack it up and take it away.
I’ve changed it up just a bit: I’ve switched out some of the flour for cornmeal…3 tablespoons…just adding a little bit of texture. If you don’t have cornmeal: don’t worry: just use the flour 1 ¾ cups.
I’ve added an overfull cup of blueberries. I made a blueberry sauce one night to go with it. If I had a little more ambition I would have gilded that lily and added some whipped cream…
I have made this recipe 3 times in the past two days…once with only lemon zest and lemon juice, once dedicated solely to lime zest and juice and the third and final time with a blend of lemon and lime zest (the Li-mon of cakes!) (groan). And i have added blueberries: the first two cakes had lovely little New England wild blueberries in them the third had very sweet and delicious cultivated blueberries. All were delicious…but I think my favorite was the lemon/lime combo. Lemon and blueberry is quite common and a bit expected. Lime and blueberry is equally delicious and a bit bolder - go wild!
Preheat oven to 350F - Set rack in the middle of the oven.
1) In a large bowl pour the sugar. Grate the zest -whichever fruit or combo you choose- right into the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers: it will look like this after you’ve rubbed it all together.
2) Juice a couple lemons or limes into a bowl: you will want 3 tbls of juice into a bowl. Put 3 tbls. of fruit juice into a liquid measuring cup and add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs. Whisk in olive oil.
3) In another bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into wet ones. Switch to a spatula and fold in blueberries.
5) Bake cake for about 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10- 15 minutes, then un-mold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve plain or with blueberry sauce and whipped cream - up to you.
6) The blueberry sauce was super simple: I just took about a pint of blueberries and tossed them in pan with a bit of water ¼ cup and honey …about 3 - 4 tbls., grated in some nutmeg and lemon or lime zest and a squirt of lemon or lime juice and …cook it for about 5 minutes…until the berries burst …the sauce will thicken as it cools…if too thick: add a bit of water until you reach the consistency you like.