Olive Oil for Dessert? A Recipe for Olive Oil Cake with Cherry Topping

Gluten Free Olive Oil Cake with Cherry Topping

 Growing up my mother used a lot of olive oil. Pesto was one of her favorite dishes and I loved the smell and taste of the basil and olive oil together. She did use vegetable oil for some of her baking and recipes, but olive oil was always her favorite. As I got older I thought it was funny that suddenly olive oil became all the rage with foodies. I never realized that it wasn't popular since my mother loved shopping the Italian grocery stores back home and it was always a staple on our table. Now that I bake and cook for my family I have come to realize that not everyone buys the giant size of olive oil at the big box stores and uses it quicker than I am willing to admit. There are few things that compare to a simple dish with the right amount of extra virgin olive oil. Especially in the summer, it just seems natural. While many people know about cooking with olive oil, my mother introduced me to the idea of baking with it as well. It is a great substitute for butter or vegetable oil in many recipes and adds a nice buttery taste to cakes. Today I tried a new recipe for Olive Oil Cake from the July 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I did make a number of significant changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I used a combination of almond meal (flour) and potato starch. I used 3/4 of a cup of potato starch and 1 cup of almond flour. I didn't have whole milk, so I substituted half and half. For the zest I used 1 lemon since I wasn't sure if my kids would be fans of a strong lemon flavor. Finally, I made a topping that the original recipe did not include. I have had frozen cherries in my freezer for a couple of months and I figured that they would be a great accompaniment to the cake. Instead of adding vanilla like the recipe I followed stated I substituted almond extract. There is something about cherries that screams almond extract to me.

Baking gluten free can oftentimes be very hit or miss, so I wasn't sure what to expect with this recipe. I was happy when it came out and it had actually risen like a regular wheat flour cake and the crust was nicely browned. My two boys really loved the cake and have already eaten half of it by the time I am writing this. This cake would be great either as written or gluten free and is a nice way to bake with olive oil.

For the recipes go to Olive Oil Cake and Cherry Topping.

Recipe for Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake

Gluten Free Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake

Hopefully everyone else is doing better with Easter prep than I am. I think that I finally have decided what I am going to make. Since it's just my family this year due to sickness it should be very easy to make Easter dinner tomorrow. Hopefully. My husband still isn't feeling well so it might just be my two boys and I eating, which will be fine with me it means more dessert for me. I was smart and bought my ham early while everyone was still feeling well. Doing things early is always a must in my household since things always seem to get crazy. Regardless tomorrow will be a great day to spend with my family and I hope all my readers have a great Easter. If your still looking for a sweet to serve tomorrow I might be able to help. Last week I tried a new recipe for Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake from the April 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients in the cake and 5 in the glaze. It takes a total time of 1 hour, 35 minutes of which is active and makes 8 to 10 servings. Since this recipe is already gluten free I made very few changes. I do have a few suggestions though. Make sure to spread the batter even in the pan before baking. If you skip this step half of your cake will rise higher than the other half. Gluten free cake never has much of a rise so if you don't smooth out the batter it will not turn out right. My cake took exactly 30 minutes to bake. For the glaze make sure to sift the confectioners sugar. If you miss this step your glaze will have lumps. The pics in the magazine are a little deceptive. If you are like me and eat gluten free regularly you know that gluten free recipes don't look fluffy and light like their gluten counterparts. They still taste great but without a large amount of baking powder you aren't going to have a high cake. If you want a higher cake you could try experimenting with adding baking powder.

My two boys really liked this recipe. They ate the majority of the cake. The original recipe uses almond flour, but it would probably work with rice flour or sorghum flour instead as long as you added butter or oil to balance the fat. The cake made a nice snack with a cup of tea, it wasn't overly sweet which I liked.

For the recipe go to Flourless Carrot Bundt Cake.