Orange Lemon Olive Oil Cake

The last time I posted, I imagined my hiatus would be indefinite.  Indefinitely long.  Claire was increasingly interactive and on-the-go, leaving me less time to prepare meals.  Even more, though, her little teeth were cutting through at an alarming rate, which meant she was eating chunks of solid food.  Hoping to simplify my life and not have to cook separate meals for Claire and the rest of the family, I went back to basics and cooked “simple” meals that all four of us could enjoy: steamed or roasted vegetables, lightly dressed pastas, stock-cooked rice, and lots and lots of baked, broiled, steamed, and pan-fried fish.  Yes, my little girl loves fish.  I took a break from reading other blogs and websites for recipe inspiration and focused on what the four of us needed.

Toward the end of the year, we headed abroad on vacation.  Since then we’ve been trading off viruses and colds…. and continuing to subsist on simple dishes.  Nothing worth photographing or blogging about; no real “recipes” to leave for the kiddos.  It wasn’t until a chance conversation with my internist that I began thinking about Rice Kernel again.  A chance conversation in which I discovered she was a food blogger herself.

Slowly I began purusing my favorite blogs and food websites again.  Claire and Rice Kernel keep me ever-busy these days and it’s unlikely I will post as frequently as I used to.  But I will, as much as I can.  After all, Claire deserves some more variation in her ever-increasing diet. 

In celebration of all the sweet citrus trees in the neighborhood of late, a cake worthy of frosting, whipped cream, or a cup of tea with breakfast….

Orange Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

Butter for greasing pan
2 citrus fruits (2 oranges, or 1 orange and 2 medium lemons)
3/4 cup sugar
Scant 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (or half whole wheat, half AP)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
2. Grate zest from fruit and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until zest is evenly distributed in sugar.
3. Halve orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; you’ll will have about 1/4 cup. (If you have less, you can juice the lemon.) Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.
4. In another bowl, whisk together flour(s), baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake cake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up.

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