Olive Oil Cake
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 50 mins
Active: 10 mins
Makes: 12 servings
By Kate Ramos
INGREDIENTS
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup amaretto liqueur, such as Disaronno
- 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup coarse-ground cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- Powdered sugar, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in middle. Coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or 9-inch round cake pan with olive oil and flour; tap out the excess.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and granulated sugar until well blended and light in color. Add milk, olive oil, amaretto, and orange zest and mix well.
- In another bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until just blended (the batter will be slightly lumpy; do not overmix).
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish or pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- When the cake has cooled, run a knife around the perimeter of the pan and invert the cake onto a serving plate. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into 12 pieces, and serve.
Beverage pairing: La Caudrina Moscato d’Asti, Italy. The touch of rose and pear in this sweet wine from northern Italy will pleasantly match the hints of orange and pollen in the cake, while the gentle stream of bubbles will be a nice dance partner for the crunchiness of the cornmeal.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
The word "polenta" refers to and means only the final product of cooking cornmeal with salt and water, that is "polenta". If what is to be used in this recipe is "cornmeal," as it seems that it should be, then it should specify cornmeal, or to be more specific "cornmeal for polenta." There are some Italian cakes that actually use cooked polenta in the mixture so this recipe could be very confusing for someone trying it for the first time.
Thanks, Venit. You are correct. We did mean to say "cornmeal" and have changed it accordingly. Thanks for being so observant!
The olive oil cake is actually somewhat like cornbread. I really liked the crunch in it though.
A 13" x 9" pan is nearly twice the size of a 9" round cake pan. How are they interchangeable? An 8" square baking dish would have the same area as a 9" round pan.
As AndyGT said, the instructions for the pans is way off. Why hasn't this been fixed? It's a much larger "error" than the cornmeal/polenta issue. (And anyway, it was perfectly fine to list polenta and not cornmeal to indicate the grain. Polenta does not necessarily mean a final, cooked product.)
A 13 x 9-inch baking dish holds 16 cups. A 9-inch round cake pan holds only 6 cups. No way you can use these pans interchangeably. Making this cake in the larger pan would probably give you a large cracker. Accurate substitutions for the 9-inch cake pan would be an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan or an 11 x 7-inch baking dish, both of which are 6-cup pans.
would it be totally nuts to add a little rosemary or basil to this?
i would like just a little something extra but i don't know which direction to go. my creative director mentioned he had a rosemary version of this cake and now i can't stop thinking about it.
also, since i am prone to really screwing things up.
will someone confirm the final verdict on the pan size issue.
i'm going to be making about 5 of these suckers and don't want to screw up. thanks for your patience.
jambon, Myself, I wouldn't venture to make 1 cake, let alone 5 cakes, based on this recipe. If the pan size is wrong, who knows what else is off?
Googling olive oil cake will give you a plethora of options and probably a more reliable recipe. Here are a few that sounded good to me:
Emeril:
<a href=http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cornmeal-olive-oil-cake-with-poached-peaches-in-rosemary-honey-syrup-recipe/index.html>Cornmeal-Olive Oil Cake with Poached Peaches in Rosemary-Honey Syrup</a>
Michael Chiarello:
<a href=http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/olive-oil-cake-recipe/index.html>Olive Oil Cake (with orange flavorings and fresh rosemary)</a>
Aglaia Kremezi in Bon Appetit:
<a href=http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/baking/recipes/orange_cornmeal_cake.html>Ouzo-Scented Almond, Yogurt, and Olive Oil Cake</a>
We need a final say on the pan size. I'd go with the 9" round especially since it's round in the pic. However, with some expensive ingredients I'd rather not guess at it.
I made this using the 9-inch pan - definitely the correct size.
oops, I think I made a mistake by using 4 small cake loaf pans. My cake is too oily at the top 3/4. The bottom is nice - I am trying to bake it a little longer in the hopes of saving them. I am so enjoying the Chowhound site, I am braver to experiement but then this happens!