Olive oil cake is a simple and healthy dessert, perfect for those who love traditional recipes with an extra touch of lightness. Made with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter, flour, eggs, sugar and milk, this cake is soft, moist and has a delicate flavor, with a scent reminiscent of the countryside and the authentic flavors of yesteryear.
Great for breakfast or snack, it can be enriched with lemon, orange or vanilla zest, or used as a base for filling. Discover the easy recipe for a homemade olive oil cake that is light but full of flavor.
1. Beat the eggs with an electric whisk together with the sugar until frothy and lighter.
2. Combine the milk and extra virgin olive oil in a trickle, continuing to whisk. Add the juice and zest of the lemon.
3. Mix the baking powder together with the flour. Sift it all together and add to the dough with the eggs.
4. Once a smooth mixture is obtained, pour it into a greased and floured baking pan.
5. Place in preheated oven at 180 °C for about 40 minutes.
6. Once cooked, let cool and dust with powdered sugar.
Olive oil cake: why oil and not butter?
The reasons for replacing butter with extra virgin oil in some sweet preparations are related to 3 themes: health, flavor and fragrance. In fact, extra virgin olive oil:
It turns out to be morehealthy: most of the fats in olive oil are monounsaturated, which are beneficial to the body and help keep blood cholesterol levels in check. Olive oil is also rich in polyphenols, substances that can fight cellular aging.
It tends toblendmuch better with the other ingredients in the dough.
It holds up very well tohigh temperaturesand keeps its aroma and taste characteristics intact even after cooking.
It gives doughs morefragrance, which will last longer; in fact, cakes made with animal fats tend to dry out faster.
Why is EVO oil better than seed oil?
Very often seed oil is used to prepare cakes, but this custom is due to the fact that seed oil is considered "lighter," by virtue of the fact that it is practically colorless and tasteless.
In fact, seed oil is heavier andless healthythan olive oil, as the fats it contains are more perishable and are more easily altered in cooking, going to burden the liver.
While it is also true that many people justify the choice of seed oil on the grounds that with its neutral taste it does not interfere with the flavors of sweets, it is equally true that there aremany different types of olive oilin terms of flavor and intensity: all you have to do is choose the one best suited for the purpose.
For our cake we recommend that you use adelicate extra virgin oil, which does not go too far in covering the flavor of the other ingredients. We have chosen Farchioni Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pleasant and balanced, ideal for a fragrant and tasty result.
Preparation tips for olive oil cake
Preparing cake batter is quick and easy, but there are a few steps that you should not get wrong:
For a fragrant and well-risen cake, we recommend usingtype 0 wheat flour, which provides a more elastic and consistent dough than 00 (we used cake flourMolino Farchioni, from Manitoba wheat).
To prevent unpleasant lumps from forming, the flour should alwayssiftedbefore adding it to the dough.
All the ingredients you are going to use must be atroom temperature, otherwise you risk them not blending perfectly.
When using the whisk, have it make arotary motioninside the bowl, and do not change direction, otherwise you risk having the dough come apart.
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