What a beautiful recipe! I love your writing, your baking (and the way your interpret baking), and I love waking up to an issue of Great Bakes of Sundays. Even more if my lovely friends in food Tina and Abena make an appearance in here, too. 💕
That's a great question! Olive oil is my default in any cake recipe that calls for oil. If the oil isn't the primary flavor, I use something mild like Costco's organic EVOO. If the oil is the main flavor I hop over to a great local shop that carries a huge array of olive oils. I like something on the buttery/fruity side with less bitterness or pepperiness. I usually go for Ligurian or even French oils, but I always ask at the shop and taste a few before buying.
I am still to find an olive oil that I like in olive oil forward cakes. Part of the issue might also be the olive oil cake recipes I have tried so far. I also love more fruity olive oils, personally I love Spanish and Greek olive oil. Sounds like I need to go to a much needed olive oil tasting!
I hear you! That's why I loved Tina's Ciambella recipe: the olive oil doesn't dominate. Too many olive oil cakes use too much oil, and the flavor overwhelms everything. One I made (from a very well known pastry chef) tasted downright greasy.
An unpopular opinion: a cheap, supermarket olive oil with a less assertive flavor can be the best answer. High-end oils are often the most flavorful, but that's not always what you want in a cake.
Oh, and if you can splurge on an olive oil pressed with lemon rind, it really sings in these cakes. That's what Tina's original recipe calls for and it's fantastic.
Love hearing stories about friends in food! Also need to try incorporate more herbs into my bakes
Thanks for inspiring this post, Abena!
I’ve got a prolific lemon verbena plant and will have to try!
Those lovely plants really explode, don't they?!
What a beautiful recipe! I love your writing, your baking (and the way your interpret baking), and I love waking up to an issue of Great Bakes of Sundays. Even more if my lovely friends in food Tina and Abena make an appearance in here, too. 💕
Also, your shirt!!!!!!!!!!! 🫶🏻😗
Thank you so much, Jaíne! Glad you spotted one of my many corn shirts.
What a lovely recipe! Martin, what’s your favorite olive oil for baking cakes?
That's a great question! Olive oil is my default in any cake recipe that calls for oil. If the oil isn't the primary flavor, I use something mild like Costco's organic EVOO. If the oil is the main flavor I hop over to a great local shop that carries a huge array of olive oils. I like something on the buttery/fruity side with less bitterness or pepperiness. I usually go for Ligurian or even French oils, but I always ask at the shop and taste a few before buying.
I am still to find an olive oil that I like in olive oil forward cakes. Part of the issue might also be the olive oil cake recipes I have tried so far. I also love more fruity olive oils, personally I love Spanish and Greek olive oil. Sounds like I need to go to a much needed olive oil tasting!
I hear you! That's why I loved Tina's Ciambella recipe: the olive oil doesn't dominate. Too many olive oil cakes use too much oil, and the flavor overwhelms everything. One I made (from a very well known pastry chef) tasted downright greasy.
An unpopular opinion: a cheap, supermarket olive oil with a less assertive flavor can be the best answer. High-end oils are often the most flavorful, but that's not always what you want in a cake.
Oh, and if you can splurge on an olive oil pressed with lemon rind, it really sings in these cakes. That's what Tina's original recipe calls for and it's fantastic.
End of lecture. :)
Beautiful! Can’t wait to try this! 💙
Thanks, Casey! Big hugs!