Recipes At My Table

There is something about simplicity in baking when it is not your forte. My Simple Lemon Olive Oil Cake is beautifully presented, but so easy to make.  It brings together ingredients from your pantry and lines them up for family or company.  

Cakes are as old as time and very ancient. Discovered by archeologists in Neolithic Villages, the first cakes probably consisted of different grains and baked on stone. Historians believe that the first bakers were the Egyptians followed by the Greeks and the Romans.  The very first cakes resembled bread and in our Italian culture we have the Panettone which is like a bread sweetened with fruits. It wasn’t until flour emerged that we have the many versions of today’s cakes. Until the Industrial Revolution, cakes were very expensive to make because of the limited ingredients. 

Today we have so many options, from boxed cakes to those from scratch, their sweet aroma fills all our homes.  Try this Simple Lemon Olive Oil Cake the next time you bake.

• 2 large eggs, room temperature
•  1 tsp limoncello liqueur 
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• Juice and zest of a whole lemon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Confectioners’ sugar
• more lemon peel and some fresh rosemary to garnish (optional)

Process

Prepare an 8 inch cake pan by greasing it and line with round parchment paper. Beat the eggs for about 2 minutes.

Now add in the sugar and beat another 3 minutes.

Next goes in the milk, olive oil and lemon juice.

Sift your flour and baking powder.  

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for 1 minute.

Fold in your lemon zest and pour the batter into a prepared pan.

Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.  Here it is out of the oven.

Cool and dust with icing sugar.  I added some lemon peel and some fresh rosemary as garnishes.

Fall is a very nostalgic time of year for me. It was a time of gathering and preparing for winter. I spent many Fall days baking with my nonna Emilia. She did a lot of canning of pears and peaches. She also baked with the fruit. My Pear Bundt Cake reminds me of her because she loved Bosc and Concord because they were firm, but sweet. Today I use Bosc because they are firm, sweet and crisp.

When the immigrants came from Italy, they were use to big gardens with a variety of fruits and vegetables. My nonno Salvatore tried to grow many fruit trees, but the climate of Northern Ontario did not help. He had many in the house and he did manage to grow a little pear tree in his back yard. I often think, I wish I had a pear tree and then I get in my car and to to the many farms in my area. Baking today brings back memories of these two special people in my life. They are gone, but never forgotten.

There is a secret to using the right pears for baking, but this is a great article to help you: https://www.bakefromscratch.com/how-to-pick-your-pears/

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 large egg plus 1 tsp Frangelico Liqueur 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups chopped peeled fresh pears

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar

Process

Chop two cups of fresh pears into small cubsGrease a 10 inch fluted pan with canola oil and sprinkle with a little flour.

Beat the sugar, yogurt, oil, apple sauce and egg well. In another bowl combine the flour, baking sofa, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet 1/2 cup at a time with beaters on low.  

Stir in pears and almonds. Pour mixture into cake pan.  Bake at 350F for 50 minutes.  

Cool and dust with icing sugar.