When I got the September 2009 issue of Bon Appetit, I was so excited to see my favorite pastry recipe from Abroco in NYC featured in the RSVP (reader requested) section. They read my mind! There’s nothing better with a perfect cup of coffee than a slice of simple, sweet cake, Italian-style. It’s moist and citrus-spiked with a subtle hint of olive oil.
I don’t have a good excuse for why it took me 3+ years to bake this cake (that’s a long time to keep a magazine mentally bookmarked), but I was absolutely craving it this week. And as of March 1st, my husband and I have officially moved to Massachusetts, and I’ve been sad thinking that Abroco is no longer just a subway ride away. I know I hate NYC subways and traffic and crowds and noise, but I really, really miss the food. This Olive Oil Cake is like a comforting taste of Manhattan, conjuring memories of coffee breaks with my sweetie pie (that’s my husband). Mmm. . . Now we just need an espresso machine.
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk (the original recipe calls for whole milk, but I used skim)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Finely grated orange peel from one medium orange (the original recipe says 2 teaspoons)
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly coat a metal loaf pan with olive oil and dust it with flour.
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, olive oil and orange peel. Whisk wet ingredients into the dry ingredients gradually, and then transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake the cake for about 60 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes, and then invert to remove the warm cake from the pan. It’s great right out of the oven, but will last a day or so stored at room temperature.