Citrus Scented Olive Oil Cake

This cake takes me right back to Florence. It’s laced with lemon and orange zest and super moist from the olive oil. It’s light and fluffy and a perfect end to a summer meal. This cake is also a great breakfast treat. Top with pine nuts as I have or with a dusting of powdered sugar. Either way is delicious and I’m sure this will become one of your favorite cakes.

Citrus Scented Olive Oil Cake

1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
2 tbs Vin Santo (optional)
7 eggs separated
1 cup AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
zest from 1 orange
zest from 1 lemon
4 tbs fresh orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs pine nuts plus 1 tbs sugar for topping

Place raisins in a small bowl and cover with vin santo and set aside. Place egg yolks and sugar in your mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat egg yolks and sugar until they are thick and light yellow. Add flour and salt and mix to combine. Next add in orange and lemon zest. With mixer on, slowly add in olive oil and orange juice. Then add vanilla extract.

Place mixture in a separate large bowl and clean the mixing bowl along with the whisk. Beat egg whites in clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter that you have set aside. Next, combine the remaining egg whites and fold until the mixture is just combined. Add in raisins along with vin santo and combine. I wanted to try this cake with raisins, but they sank to the bottom during baking which is why I listed them as optional. I think this cake would be great without them. The next time, I will leave them out and maybe add some larger pieces of orange zest or candied orange peel.

Place batter in a 9 inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper. Top with pine nuts and sprinkle with sugar. You can also skip this step and dust the top with powdered sugar after baking. Bake in a 325 degree oven 50 min-to an hour until a pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool cake on wire rack. Slice and serve.