Olive oil cake: a tasty and genuine recipe
Olive oil cake: a tasty and genuine recipe
Equipment
- Bowl
- Pan
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 300 g Farchioni cake flour
- 150 g Sugar
- 100 ml Extra virgin olive oil (or Farchioni’s Special Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Desserts)
- 50 ml Milk
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Lemon
- 1 Baking powder
- To taste Icing sugar
Instructions
- Whisk eggs and sugar together until the mixture turns frothy and lighter in color.
- Slowly whisk in milk and extra virgin olive oil.
- Add the zest and the juice of the lemon.
- Add yeast to the flour in a separate bowl.
- Sift and add to the mix.
- Once the mixture is smooth, pour it into a greased and floured pan.
- Place the pan in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes.
- When cool, sprinkle it with icing sugar.
Today we prepare a light and healthy dessert together, the olive oil cake, which has nothing to envy to those prepared with butter, indeed! But before moving on to the actual recipe, here are some preparation tips.
Olive oil cake: why extra virgin olive oil and not butter?
The reasons for replacing butter with extra virgin olive oil in some sweet preparations are linked to 3 themes: health, flavor and fragrance. In fact, extra virgin olive oil:
- It is healthier: most of the fats contained in olive oil are monounsaturated, beneficial for the body, and help to keep blood cholesterol levels under control. Olive oil is also rich in polyphenols, substances capable of counteracting cellular aging.
- It tends to blend much better with the other ingredients of the dough.
- It withstands high temperatures very well and keeps its aroma and taste characteristics intact even after cooking.
- It gives the dough a greater fragrance, which will last longer over time; in fact, desserts prepared with fats of animal origin tend to dry out faster.
Olive oil: why is it better than seed oil?
Very often seed oil is used to prepare desserts, 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 reality, seed oil is heavier and less healthy than olive oil, as the fats contained in it are more perishable and are more easily altered during cooking, making the liver heavy.
If it is true that many motivate the choice of seed oil with the fact that with its neutral taste it does not interfere with the flavors of desserts, it is equally true that there are many different types of olive oil in terms of flavor and intensity: just choose the one that is most suitable for the purpose.
For our cake we advise you to use a delicate extra virgin olive oil, which does not cover too much the flavor of the other ingredients. We have chosen Farchioni’s Special Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Desserts, pleasant and balanced; it will improve the texture and taste of the cake.
Olive oil cake: preparation tips
Preparing the dough for the cake is quick and easy, but there are some steps you shouldn’t go wrong:
- For a fragrant and well leavened cake we recommend using type 0 soft wheat flour, which guarantees a more elastic and consistent dough than 00 (we used Molino Farchioni flour for cakes, from Manitoba wheat).
- To prevent unpleasant lumps from forming, the flour should always be sieved before adding it to the dough.
- All the ingredients you are going to use must be at room temperature, otherwise you risk them not mixing perfectly.
- When using the whisk, make it rotate inside the bowl, and do not change direction, otherwise you risk disassembling the dough.
Now that you know our secrets for preparing olive oil cake, we just have to wish you good luck!
