It has been a few months since my mom made it back from Israel. With her, she brought me several bottles of olive oil which have been great! It was actually on a trip with her to NYC that I tried my very first olive oil cake. Now every time I see one on a menu I have to order it. Olive oil cake reminds me a lot of a rustic yellow cake, but it's not too sweet like your traditional yellow birthday cake and also distinctly different than a cornmeal cake.
Obviously, depending on the olive oil you use the flavor of your cake will vary. The one I used in this recipe was very hearty and pretty strong in flavor. By no means do you need oil from Israel to make a delicious olive oil cake, either. In full disclosure one of my favorite olive oils is ZOE. I have been ordering it (and lots of pantry staples) from amazon.com for a few years now and it's really affordable. Merula has a distinct taste too, it is very light and floral, also making for a scrumptious cake especially when blended with lemon or orange flavors.
In an attempt to use up my left over blackberries from my one-bowl butter cake, I searched through my recipe bookmarks trying to find a sauce I knew I had saved. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for because something even better caught my eye. Smitten Kitchen's lime cake with blackberry sauce!
The thought of blending limes and blackberries sounded amazing. So I made a few modifications, namely turning her traditional lime cake into an olive oil lime cake and kicking up the limey-ness a bit. (limey-ness... yeah, sure). The tart and tang of this cake is super refreshing!
Cake Ingredients
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup sugar
zest of two limes
1/4 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powered sugar (for the top)
Blackberry Sauce Ingredients
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powered sugar (for the top)
Blackberry Sauce Ingredients
12 ounces fresh blackberries
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
To make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan by greasing the sides and bottom with butter. For extra measure, line the bottom with parchment paper. Then begin prepping your limes - zest and juice.
In your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, olive oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Once incorporated, add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add the sifted ingredients to your yogurt batter, and stir until just combined.
Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. When the cake comes out of the oven, place the pan on a cooling rack and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Invert the cake onto an extra plate and then flip it back again (so the pretty side is up) onto a cake stand or serving tray. If you wish, sprinkle top of cake with sifted powder sugar.
To Make the Sauce
Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. Purée until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.
When serving, either spoon the blackberry sauce over the cake, or cover a plate in sauce and then place the cake on top of the sauce.
This recipe was adapted from: The Smitten Kitchen