Olive Oil Cake

Makes: 12 to 16 servings

Time: 45 minutes

Olive oil cake is rich and dense, but the flavor is nuanced and light. It’s a simple but sophisticated dessert to serve for company; plus it’s incredibly easy to make: Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and you’re good to go. Use good olive oil—its floral, grassy, or citrus notes will shine through in every bite. Top the cake with fruit purée, Orange Marmalade, or Creamy Lemon Glaze.

Cupcakes made from olive oil batter, which take only 15 minutes to bake, are a refreshing change from the usual.

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• ½ cup milk

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9- or 10-inch springform pan with a little of the olive oil you will be using in the cake. Add a parchment circle and oil it. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk and beat until well combined. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the dry ingredients and stir until smooth with no large lumps of flour.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing the outer ring and letting it finish cooling on a rack.

4. Glaze if you like (see the headnote for suggestions). Store at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 4 days.

COCONUT OIL CAKE A rich, dense cake that’s part fruit, part nutty: Substitute coconut oil for the olive oil and coconut milk for the milk. Add 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut and omit the lemon zest. Fold the coconut in with the dry ingredients. Bake for up to 45 minutes.

LIME–SESAME OIL CAKE The intense, roasted flavor of sesame oil is brightened with a hint of lime: Substitute ⅓ cup sesame oil and 2/3 cup neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, for the olive oil. Substitute lime zest for the lemon zest.

RASPBERRY–OLIVE OIL TORTE Fruity olive oil is the perfect base for a berry add-in: Use 3 eggs instead of 4. Omit the lemon juice and increase the milk to ¾ cup. Add 4 tablespoons (½ stick) melted butter to the wet ingredients. Fold 2 cups raspberries (frozen are fine) into the finished batter.

ALMOND–ANISE–OLIVE OIL CAKE A classic biscotti combination translated into cake: Omit the lemon zest and juice. Increase the milk to ¾ cup. Add ½ teaspoon almond extract to the wet ingredients and fold 1 tablespoon aniseeds into the finished batter.

GRAPEFRUIT–OLIVE OIL CAKE Substitute 1 tablespoon grapefruit zest for the lemon zest and grapefruit juice for the lemon juice.

BOOZY OLIVE OIL CAKE A citrus liqueur is a sophisticated substitution for lemon juice: Substitute Cointreau or Grand Marnier for the lemon juice.

ADAPTING RECIPES

Making Petits Fours

Imagine a three-layer cake that fits in your hand: that’s a petit four (literally “small oven” but you get the idea). Because petits fours are so small, they’re a great way to use cake scraps but are easy to make in big batches too. Start with a cake that’s tender but not too soft—Classic Pound Cake, Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake, Sponge Cake, and Genoise are all good bets. You want three layers, each about ½ inch thick, which you can get by baking in jelly-roll pans or halving cooled layer cakes. Spread a thin, even coat of Fruit Jam, Orange Marmalade, Caramel Sauce, or Chocolate Ganache over the first layer of cake, add the next layer and another coat of filling, and leave the topmost layer bare. Wrap or cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and chill it for at least 1 hour before cutting into 1- to 2-inch squares, then coat each completely in a glaze and let set at room temperature. If you like, decorate with more frosting.