This delightful, moist Mediterranean style tea cake has a bright lemon flavour and subtle fruitiness from olive oil. Make sure to use a good quality olive oil for the best results.
Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and grease and line a 23cm (9″) springform pan. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer whisk together 1 cup of olive oil, 3 large eggs and 1½ cups of sugar. Add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract, the zest of 3 lemons and ½ a cup of lemon juice. In another bowl sift together 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ a teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda and 2 cups of all purpose flour. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in a couple of batches, alternating with 1 cup of milk. Just combine everything until no streaks of dry flour remain but don’t over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes until the cake has risen and started to become golden brown on the top. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.
*recipe by Sue Moran from the view from the great ialand
michelle picker cooks 