This is an exceptionally strange pound cake made with olive oil and pepper, where the recipe makes it sound a lot weirder than it tastes.
It's delicious on its own, but we loved it for a Fourth of July dinner last weekend with a few dollops of homemade lemon curd. We had some toasted for breakfast the next day with a smear of strawberry jam.
You want a really delicious, fruity olive oil for this recipe - and don't be stingy with the pepper.
I modified it from Bittersweet, by Alice Medrich; she makes hers as a marble cake, but I like it better as a simple pound cake.
- 3 cups white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh fine-ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and oil and flour a Bundt cake pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.
In a large mixer bowl, beat together the sugar, the olive oil, the pepper and the vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then beat the mixture until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Stop the mixer and toss in about a third of the flour mixture, then mix on low until just incorporated. Add half the milk, and mix until just incorporated. Add another third of the flour mixture, then repeat with the milk and final third of flour mixture. You'll want to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula between additions.
Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean - about an hour and ten minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then invert and gently work it out of the pan.
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