Clementine and Olive Oil Cake

I was reading a lot about olive-oil based baked goods over the weekend -- olive oil cupcakes, olive oil cakes, etc. I realize that replacing the fat in any baked sweet with olive oil isn't that dramatic -- it would be like replacing the vegetable oil in a cake with something infused or otherwise slightly scented. But to me, it seemed like it would be so jarring -- too grassy. So, of course, I had to try it.

I found this recipe, which worked well for me since I have a drawer full of clementines in my fridge. For many of you, you may know these fruits as the box of Cuties in your produce section. These are clementines, or, sometimes called seedless tangerines.

The original recipe is below. I did not measure my zest or clementine juice; instead, I just used 3 pieces of fruit and went from there. My cake was heavy on the citrus (which I don't mind), but light on the olive oil flavor. I highly recommend measuring the citrus so that it doesn't overpower the expensive olive oil.  I could definitely smell the impact of the olive oil while the bread was baking, but in my case, its flavoring simply was overpowered by clementine.


Clementine and Olive Oil Cake
Cafe Fernando dot com

2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 c sugar
2/3 c olive oil, extra virgin
2 T clementine zest (about 2-3 clementines)
3 eggs
1 c clementine juice (about 2-3 clementines)

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour one 12 x 4 inch loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and clementine zest and rub together to extract the fragrant oil from the zest. Add olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined (preferably with the whisk attachment)

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed. Add half of the clementine juice and continue mixing. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the clementine juice and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Quick note on cooking time -- as you can see from the below picture, mine was overbaked. I think for my oven, just 35-40 minutes of cooking time would have been sufficient. My general rule ... which I did not follow this time ... is that when you can begin to smell the baked good, then it's time to start testing it for done-ness.)

  

Remove cake from oven. Let sit 10 minutes before removing from pan and serving.