Citrus olive oil cake

I unearthed this cake recipe from a binder of printed-off recipes from long ago (over 7 years) which I rediscovered last week. The recipe was from the New Yorker.

I know why I’d printed it off (because, intriguingly, olive oil is one of the ingredients in the cake) and I also know why I didn’t end up making it right away – because blood oranges are also among the ingredients. I didn’t have a clue what blood oranges were, at that point, and didn’t know where I could source them either.

I didn’t think about substituting regular oranges (duh) – because I didn’t have much experience baking, and I didn’t know if the recipe would work without the blood oranges that were called for.

Lastly, but not leastly (Why can’t it be said that way? Well, I have now, and it’s here to stay. More fun than “last but not least”, isn’t it?) I literally had no idea what “supreming an orange” was. I mean, I could safely assume that “blood orange” was a variety of orange. But “supreme of orange” could have been, for all I knew, really bad English to mean that blood oranges were supreme among oranges. Well, how was I to know any different?

It’s only fairly recently that I learnt what it is to “supreme an orange” – basically, a flashy, “cheffy” way of using a paring knife to peel an orange, cut out the segments and remove the seeds and as much of the white pith as possible, retaining only the juicy inner bits.

Phooey. We’ve been doing it in India forever, mainly to feed the orange to toddlers. Of course ours is a hands-on technique, literally – and yeah, the end result isn’t as pretty as when an orange is “supremed” with a knife. But it is also an unfussy way of doing a simple job. Ah well... I guess Western chefs didn’t invent the technique with the intention of feeding toddlers; their orange supremes are usually to garnish fancy desserts.

Each technique obviously has its plus points. But for the purposes of THIS recipe, fancy supreming was really not required, as the slices would neither be retained whole, nor used as a garnish. And had I known this 7 years ago, I might have tried the cake 7 years ago.

However, that’s neither here nor there (just don’t ask me where, please). This is my first olive oil cake, and I admit I was wondering if the oil would taste nice in a sweet citrus-flavoured cake. I was very relieved not to be able to taste it at all, when I sampled the cake later. The cake is not very sweet, because I misread the instructions and ended up with a very liquidy batter necessitating the addition of more flour... but I didn't add any extra sugar.

The recipe below shows the adjusted quantities. However, it still takes a LONG time to bake – I had to leave mine shortly after I’d put the batter in the oven, to drop off my stepson and his girlfriend at their respective homes. What with having to drive to two destinations 12 miles apart (more or less) through a HORRIBLY thick fog late at night on narrow country roads, it took me a good hour and a half to return.

My husband, deep in work mode, had not even realised there was a cake slowly charring in the oven, so by the time I dashed in to the rescue, the cake was PRETTY brown and rather crisper on top than I would have liked. However, much to my surprise, it was not crisp and overdone all the way through – in fact, it was perfectly done on the inside. So obviously it had needed the long cooking period. If I’d been in the house, I would probably have sheltered the cake with aluminium foil after an hour or so, to prevent it from over-browning.

So, as I was saying, the cake may not be very sweet even with the adjusted sugar quantity. I like it that way but if you have a sweeter tooth, I’d suggest you make a simple icing with orange juice and icing sugar and pour it (or spread it – whichever your preference) over the top of the cake after it has cooled.

Recipe for: Citrus olive oil cake

Ingredients:

3 medium oranges
1 small lemon
1-1/4 cup sugar
Buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan really well. Grate zest from 2 oranges and the lemon, and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until the zest is evenly distributed in the sugar.

2. Cut the zested oranges in half and remove the segments. Remove as much of the white pith as possible, retaining the inner pulp. Do this over a bowl so that you don't waste the juice or any pulp. Keep the pulp in small chunks as much as possible, rather than disintegrate it.

3. Cut the remaining orange in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup. Do the same with the zested lemon.

4. Add enough buttermilk or yogurt to the juice to make 2/3 cup liquid.

5. Pour the mixture into the bowl with sugar and whisk well,

then whisk in the eggs one by one.

6. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into the wet ones.

7. Now, using a spatula, fold in the oil a little at a time.

8. Fold in the pieces of orange segments.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

9. Bake the cake for at least 55 minutes (cover the top with foil if it looks like browning too quickly), or until it is golden and a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmould carefully and cool to room temperature right-side up.
You can make a simple icing for the top, if you have a strong sweet tooth.
(Caveat: Ovens differ in temperature, so don't put your trust totally in the baking time given. Check the cake after about 45 minutes and keep checking every so often till it is cooked.)

RECIPE: CITRUS OLIVE OIL CAKE

Ingredients:

3 medium oranges
1 small lemon
1-1/4 cups sugar
Buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan really well. Grate zest from 2 oranges and the lemon, and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until the zest is evenly distributed in the sugar.
2. Cut the zested oranges in half and remove the segments. Remove as much of the white pith as possible, retaining the inner pulp. Do this over a bowl so that you don't waste the juice or any pulp. Keep the pulp in small chunks as much as possible, rather than disintegrate it.
3. Cut the remaining orange in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup.
4. Add enough buttermilk or yogurt to the juice to make 2/3 cup liquid.
5. Pour the mixture into the bowl with sugar and whisk well, then whisk in the eggs one by one.
6. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into the wet ones.
7. Now, using a spatula, fold in the oil a little at a time.
8. Fold in the pieces of orange segments. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
9. Bake the cake for at least 55 minutes (cover the top with foil if it looks like browning too quickly), or until it is golden and a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmould and cool to room temperature right-side up. You can make a simple icing for the top, if you have a strong sweet tooth.