Olive Oil Cake with Candied Orange Slices

Another bon appetit recipe... Yes, I do get recipes elsewhere, but so many from bon appetit have looked or sounded really good lately. Aside from the time it takes to candy the oranges, this is a relatively easy and quick cake. I actually got the candied orange going and then made the cake batter while the orange slices candied. I just made sure to stir the orange slices every few minutes.

The flavor of the cake sounds a little strange, but it's a very moist and delicious cake. I can't even taste the olive oil in it. I mostly tasted the cardamom and orange flavors. The only significant change I made to the recipe was using ground cardamom instead of the cardamom pods for the candied oranges. We were out of the pods but had plenty of ground cardamom.

The recipe is available on the bon appetit website. Here's how I made it with that slight change in the form of cardamom for the candied orange:

candied orange and syrup

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange blossom honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 small orange, thinly sliced

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring sugar, honey, cardamom, and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add orange slices. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, turning orange slices occasionally, until tender and syrup is reduced to about 3 cups, about 40 minutes. Arrange orange slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Strain syrup.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover syrup and orange slices separately; chill. Return orange slices to room temperature and rewarm syrup slightly before using.

cake

1/2 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
zest from 2 oranges
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chopped pistachios, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°. Brush 9-inch springform pan with oil. Whisk both flours and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup oil in a large bowl for 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks, then flour mixture. Beat in yogurt, orange zest, and vanilla. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until firm peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter just to blend in 2 additions. Transfer to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Pierce hot cake all over with a skewer. Slowly drizzle 3/4 cup warm syrup all over. When syrup is absorbed, slowly pour 3/4 cup more syrup over. Reserve remaining syrup for serving (optional). Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack. Run a thin knife around edge of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides. Arrange candied orange slices over. Sprinkle pistachios over. Cut into wedges and serve.

We found that the cake was so moist that it didn't need more syrup, so I added optional in parentheses above. The syrup is tasty and I did save it. We'll probably use it on vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake

I just made this cake for a family picnic on Saturday, but I forgot to take a picture of it, so I'm using a picture from the first time I made it. I really couldn't get my act together and plan something to make to bring. I was actually planning to try an olive oil cake with candied oranges, which I still plan to make soon, but I was really tired on Friday night and was trying to take good care of myself because I had another plugged milk duct (a recurring problem I'm having with Adeline), so I went to bed and figured I come up with something on Saturday morning. By some miracle I thought of this cake and actually had all the ingredients I needed to make the cake and glaze. I didn't bother with the blueberry sauce this time. I really like the blueberry sauce, but I don't think the cake needs it to be really good.

The recipe for this cake came from bon appetit. The recipe is online. It struck me on Saturday morning that this is a really easy cake to make. Not only did I not need my mixer, but it bakes in one pan and you glaze it while it's hot, so no need to let it cool before frosting it like with most cakes.

I followed the recipe just as it was written, so just follow the link above if you decide to try it. I figured I would just add some thoughts about baking/cooking in general.

First is the fastest, easiest way I've found to get lemon (or other citrus) zest. I use a microplane (Microplane 40020 Classic Zester/Grater). It is fantastic. I've also used the small shredding side of a cheese grater and the traditional hand held zesters. The microplane is by far the best I've used. I got mine as a gift from my mother-in-law, but it would so definitely be worth the money if I'd bought it myself. Considering how much I use mine, I don't even think $10-$15 is much to spend on one.

Another thing I thought I'd share is the order in which I whisk liquids together. I also start with eggs in a bowl and whisk them. Then I add the melted butter while I'm whisking. I never worry about the butter being completely cooled. I just melt it as the first thing I do when I start a recipe and then add it when it's time. Next I add the milk and vanilla extract slowly while whisking. I find that I end up with better blended liquids by doing this. Basically, I start with the thicker, fattier liquids and work towards the milk and vanilla extract. When a recipe calls for brown sugar, I always whisk that in with the egg before adding other liquids.

Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Growing up, my mother used to make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for me for my birthday in November using carrots from our garden. My sister's birthday is in July, so she got a blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting for her birthday made with blueberries from our blueberry bushes. It's kind of funny now how much I took our fantastic yard and vegetable garden for granted growing up. We had so much fresh fruit and vegetables grown on our own property. The main drawback for me raising my girls in a city is that there is no way I can give them the experience of growing a lot of our own food. Our yard is just too small and too shaded.

I have no idea where the original recipe for this cake came from. I imagine my mother made a few changes and I've made a couple additions. Here's my version of the recipe:

Blueberry Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

zest from one large lemon

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup whole milk

3 cups fresh blueberries, tossed with flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by greasing with butter or shortening and dusting with flour. Cream butter and brown sugar together. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat well. Mix the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture alternately with the milk in three additions. Fold in the blueberries. Bake for about 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Turn the cakes out of the pans onto wire cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract together. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, beating until completely blended before each addition.

This is a sort of loose cream cheese frosting.  If I want it a little stiffer for frosting the sides of the cake, I'll put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then stir it before frosting the sides.