Lemon Olive Oil Cake
California has been in a major drought recently and thankfully over the past couple of weeks we have gotten some serious rain. Although I love when it pours here, because it rarely does (not like it does in Florida) I get a little stir crazy when stuck inside. So last weekend during another downpour I decided to try a cake that I have wanted to experiment with for a while - a lemon olive oil cake. I know olive oil sounds like a weird ingredient to put in a cake but it made the cake light, delicious and moist. Plus the grassy flavor of the oil matched perfectly with the tart sweetness of the Meyer lemons.
Spring is almost here and that means soon enough we will have strawberries and apricots and eventually cherries. So the delicious citrus we have hung onto all winter will be gone, or forgotten about at least. So in honor of citrus and one last hurrah as a thank you for getting us through the winter season, I decided to make this sweet light delicious lemon cake. Plus it was the perfect cake to brighten up a dreary rainy San Francisco Sunday.
Because I am trying my hardest to be gluten-free, I made this cake gluten-free using Thomas Keller's Cup 4 Cup. I was a little skeptical of it mostly because it cost so much from Whole Foods, but I think I am a convert. I honestly couldn't really tell that it was gluten-free. I also decided to caramelize the lemons on top for an added sweetness. This cake is kind of amazing. It is light and airy and can be a dessert or a brunch option. You can definitely skip the lemon layers on top and just make the cake. Or once other fruits start coming into season, you can substitute lemons for another type of fruit that you can slice. I bet apricots would be delicious.
So thanks for everything citrus you have been swell but sayonara citrus and bring on the strawberries
Enjoy!
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