This cake is a traditional Spanish olive oil cake. It’s usually served with a glass of black coffee. It’s got a lovely orange flavour from the orange juice and zest and tastes really Mediterranean. I make nearly all my cakes with olive oil because I prefer the texture and they stay moist and fresh for much longer. I’m also not great with dairy. Most Mediterranean countries use olive oil instead of butter in their cakes and obviously it’s a lot healthier as is most of their diet. Hope you like it as much as me.

Recipe:

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:

1 cup of golden caster sugar, or coconut sugar
3 eggs (or use egg replacer if you’re vegan)
2-3 tablespoons of orange zest depending on how orangey you like it
1/4 cup of fresh orange juice
2 1/2 cups of self raising flour (I use wholemeal spelt and add one and half tablespoons of baking powder)
1/2 cup of plant based milk, I use Bonsoy
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup of warmed orange juice
Icing sugar (optional)

How:

Preheat the oven to 180c or 400f. Oil a deep 9” cake tin with a removable base and set aside.
In a large bowl with an whisk the egg, sugar and orange zest with an electric mixer until pale and thick and creamy. Next add the wet ingredients (oil, milk and the 1/4 cup of orange juice) and stir with a big spoon and then stir in the flour. Mix till thoroughly combined and pour into the cake tin. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre.
Leave to sit for five minutes then remove from the tin and put on a wire rack over a tray. Pour the hot orange juice over the cake and dust with icing sugar if using. Serve the cake once it’s cooled completely, you can dust with more icing sugar if you fancy.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl