Orange Juice and Olive Oil Cake

The uncrumbly side of the cake

Another recipe from 'Apples for Jam' - this cake uses olive oil instead of butter, and orange juice for flavouring, so I think it's pretty good for you (and I added cream for calcium!)

It's not the most straightforward cake to make, but as long as you have 2 large bowls and a hand-mixer, it's pretty easy.

First you whisk up the egg whites in a bowl until firm, then put them in the fridge until you need them, if it's a warm day.

In the other bowl, whip up the yolks and vanilla until foamy, whisk in the caster and brown sugars, then gradually whisk in the olive oil. Add the flour, baking powder, and orange juice and zest, then beat it all together until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites and pour the cake mix into a 22 cm springform tin. Cook at 180 C for 35 mins until the top is crusty.

In the book, the cake is topped with pine nuts, but I topped mine with some semolina and demarara sugar which gave a good crusty topping. I think flaked almonds would work well too.

I had a bit of trouble getting the cake out of the pan and it crumbled on one side which was a bit annoying, so it's best to wait until it's cool and firm to get it out of its pan. I also had a problem with my #!@$ oven which decided to turn itself off while the cake was cooking (it has a dodgy timer which does its own thing sometimes). The cake turned out fine though. Phew! A light, orangey sponge cake with a crunchy topping that works really well as a dessert. Would go very well with fruit and ice cream too.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
125 g caster sugar
25 g brown sugar
100 ml olive oil
200 g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
125 ml orange juice, freshly squeezed, and zest of half orange