- Hey, I'm John Kanell,
and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making an amazing
olive oil cake, (bell chimes)
so let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 375.
You want it nice and hot.
For the batter, I'm adding two cups
or 240 grams of all-purpose flour into a medium bowl,
one teaspoon of salt,
this'll give us a nice balance for the cake
and just be, oh, so good,
one teaspoon of baking powder for leavening,
and that's gonna be supplemented
with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda.
The baking soda needs an acid to react with.
We're gonna have some lemon juice in this cake, too.
Our scale is done.
We're gonna grab a whisk
and just give it a good mix. (whisk taps)
Set your flour aside and either grab a big bowl
and a hand mixer or a stand mixer
fitted with a paddle attachment.
Into my bowl, I'm adding
one and a half cups of granulated sugar,
that's 300 grams,
as well as three room temperature large eggs.
So this cake, it's called an olive oil cake,
but it's like a cheesecake cloud dream cake.
The texture is so soft and melt in your mouth,
it's basically mind blowing
because it's like melting clouds.
And then the taste is just perfectly balanced.
There's like a little sweet lemon,
just a hint of salt on the back.
It's perfect,
and then the top is crunchy to boot.
Mix this up on high until it is light and fluffy.
(mixer buzzes)
We're gonna beat a lot of air in here
and also start dissolving the sugar
to give it a smoother, more amazing texture.
Let's take a look.
I don't know if you can tell,
but this is thick and this beautiful, pale yellow color.
Now we can go on to the next step,
which is adding the olive oil.
I need one cup or 240 mLs of olive oil,
and let me tell you, this is gonna be the magic.
With the mixer on low (mixer buzzes)
I'm gonna gradually stream this olive oil in,
just so it has a nice chance to mix properly.
Ooh, it looks so pretty in there.
Come take a look.
You know I love butter, but oil-based cakes
don't get the attention they deserve.
They could be in the fridge for days at a time.
You take 'em out
and they are perfectly melt in your mouth soft.
Butter cakes are amazing,
but they should be room temperature when served,
so it can be a challenge if they're decorated especially.
Okay, so right now is working in and forming
the most delicious emulsion ever
and giving us a really great base
for the rest of the ingredients.
(mixer clicks) I'm pausing this
just to gather my lemon zest.
One tablespoon of lemon zest is gonna give you
so much lift and really compliment
that subtle olive oil flavor in the cake.
Depending on how much you love lemon,
that's the zest of one to two lemons.
You can really pack one tablespoon in.
Right, add this in, (grater taps)
and I of course am adding
just a bit more for a good measure.
(grater taps) In you go.
I also want one and a quarter cups of whole milk,
that's 300 mLs,
and two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.
This I'm gonna eyeball.
No seeds, please.
It looks so cool
when people just squeeze lemons right into things.
I was watching a chef make a fish dish that way,
and I was like, what about all the seeds?
I know there were seeds in that lemon.
And I'm popping this back on low,
and we're gonna mix in the milk.
It looks so thick and amazing right now
and there is no butter in here, there is no flour.
It's just the eggs and the sugar
with the olive oil forming this amazing base.
I have to tell you, this is my current dream cake.
It is so good, I'm gonna make this for my birthday,
and if that's not the highest praise, I don't know what is.
You can double this recipe up
so you can make two nine inch layers,
and then, oh my gosh,
I would sandwich it with whipped cream,
with some lemon curd, maybe some strawberries.
I don't think it needs it,
but we're gonna scrape the bowl down.
So right now it is very liquidy,
and that's totally fine.
The flour is gonna do some magic
and then this cake is gonna bake up really nice.
Back to low (mixer buzzes)
And we're gonna add the garmission in.
(John laughs) (bell chimes)
Back to low,
and we're gonna add our flour mixture in gradually.
So mix it up,
and I want this to mix until it is just combined.
This cake has the most amazing texture
and you just don't want to overmix the batter.
The two things that can go really wrong
when you make a cake are one, mismeasuring the flour.
So, like, for example,
you just scoop the flour up, level it off,
and you end up with way more flour than you need,
and also over mixing the batter.
Then you're activating the proteins in the flour.
It's gonna become more bready and gummy.
Not good.
Okay, it's almost combined.
Finishing a batter off by hand
will give you ultimate control
so you know you're not gonna overmix.
And also, whenever you use zest in a batter,
it tends to clinging onto your beater,
so wipe that off.
There's a ton of flavor in there.
And now just fold that in
until there's no streaks of flour left.
And now we're gonna pour this
into our prepared nine inch pan.
This is a big thick cake and it bakes all in one pan
so it's easy, too.
And we're just gonna work that around to the edges
so it releases nicely.
We're gonna add a round of parchment paper right there,
and then dust some, dust some powdered sugar, no no.
(bell rings)
And I'm gonna grab just a little bit of flour
and dust that along the side.
This cake will come out easy peasy, olive oil squeezy.
I don't know if you should put that in.
Everyone's gonna click away.
Okay, get all that batter out.
It's not a wasteful situation here.
And as you can see, this is a very full pan.
You might be like, oh my gosh, is that gonna overflow?
It's not gonna overflow, but it might rise above the pan.
It's gonna be nice, thick, and amazing.
The crowning glory on this cake
is a simple few tablespoons of granulated sugar.
You're gonna sprinkle this on top of the batter
and it forms the most amazing crust.
I'm gonna add a little bit more sugar than I need to.
The worst that can happen
is you'll have some extra unabsorbed sugar on top
that'll just fall right off when you invert the cake.
And yes, this is an Italian style olive oil cake.
It's very traditional,
and if you would dress it up with something different,
like a different frosting or a different fruit situation,
you let me know in the comments because I am all ears.
I'll be making this on repeat on the regular.
My cake is ready to go into the oven,
375 for 40 to 45 minutes.
A skewer inserted in the center will come out clean
and it'll be just pulling away from the edge.
There's a trick for getting this outta the pan
while keeping that pretty top,
so I'll show you that in just a moment.
(timer clicks) (bell chime)
My cake is outta the oven.
It's supposed to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes
but I cannot wait because it's so delicious
and I need to eat some right now.
I'm sure you can sympathize.
Here's the trick for getting it out,
'cause you want it to be face up
and fairly intact on your cake stand.
Grab another nine inch pan or a flat plate.
Place that right on top.
And now you're going to carefully flip it upside down.
Lift that off.
(gasps) Amazing.
Pull the paper off.
Grab your cake stand or whatever you're using
and then flip it upside down one more time,
just like that.
Ooh, it looks beautiful,
and you can have an even more crackly finish
just depending on your oven and your total bake time.
Oh my gosh, it cuts like butter,
and it's not butter, it's olive oil.
I'm about to eat this whole cake, but one bite at a time.
Wild.
The top is so crunchy.
The middle, it's just like a cloud.
It's beyond cake.
It just floats away into nothing
and you have to keep eating more.
Trust me, you just need to make this recipe.
And if you like this video,
check out my easy cake playlist.
Back to eating for me. (John laughs)