Olive oil cake. What’s all that about then? Well, let me tell you.

I first came across cake baked with olive oil at Towpath in Dalston last year. Towpath, if you are wondering, is a delightful little café on the canal in Dalston, run by writer Lori De Mori and photographer Jason Lowe.

I wasn’t brave enough at the time to try it, despite reading that it was very delicious. But ever since that day I have been contemplating baking a cake with olive oil, rather than butter. I’ve baked with vegetable oil before and been impressed with the results, but it was only when I was in touch with the lovely team at Nudo that I finally bit the bullet.

I was sent a tin of Nudo Extra Virgin olive oil with lemons to try, which I decided I would use to bake a lemon loaf cake. Good choice. I found this recipe on Completely Delicious and substituted the lemons and extra virgin olive oil for my nifty little tin of Nudo.

The whipped egg whites made the cake unbelievably light, while the olive oil kept in the moisture and gave it a fantastic lemon flavour. I wouldn’t have been able to tell that there was no lemon zest involved if I had bought a slice from a café.

I didn’t bother with lemon icing as I don’t like icing but instead I dusted it with icing sugar. A lemon drizzle would have been nice but it’s definitely not needed. Maybe next time.

This cake is definitely best served with a cup of tea. Try it!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Makes 1 loaf cake

Ingredients

180ml Nudo Extra Virgin olive oil with lemons
150g plain flour
5 egg yolks
4 egg whites
170g golden caster sugar
Icing sugar to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Greast a loaf pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper.

1. Beat the egg yolks and 110g sugar together at a high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the speed and slowly add the olive oil. Add the flour and fold in gently with a wooden spoon or spatula
2. In a separate bowl (or transfer the batter to another bowl and wash the bowl if using a stand mixer), add the egg whites and beat on a high speed until thick and foamy. Slowly add the remaining 60g of sugar and beat to soft peaks.
3. Fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
4. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!