the best olive oil cake you'll ever have

It's no secret, I love a good slice of olive oil cake. 

So when I was asked by Cup of Jo to submit one of my favorite recipes for her "best you'll ever have" series, I immediately thought of my absolute favorite, go-to cake.

This olive oil cake is super easy the make and has an awesome and unique flavor. One of my favorite things about this cake is the ingredient list, especially the use of olive oil over butter. Meyer Lemons are also a favorite because they have a slight sweetness to them that you will not find in a regular lemon. 

People either love olive oil cake or have never heard of it, and the ones that have never heard of it often love it as soon as they try it. 

To see my post + more pictures, you can head over here on Cup of Jo. 

Or, you can also get the recipe here (below). Enjoy!

olive oil cake with rum glaze

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut palm sugar (or regular white sugar)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (good quality, but not too strong of a taste)
1/2 cup lemon juice (preferably Meyer)
Zest of 1 lemon (preferably Meyer) 
2 eggs

For the rum glaze (optional):
1 tsp. dark rum
2 tsp. almond milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Method 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Oil a regular-sized bundt pan. (If you don't own a bundt pan, you can make this in a 11x7 rectangular dish or round cake pan.)
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients, and whisk. Then make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredients. Whisk until everything is combined.
• Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven to bake for approximately 45 minutes. When it is done, the edges should be brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan, and if you insert a tester it should come out clean. Let the cake rest for several minutes, then carefully remove from the pan. Allow it to cool slightly on a wire rack.
• While the cake is cooling, you can make the rum glaze (if using). Whisk together all of the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Then, using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the cake. In about 10 minutes, the glaze will harden.
• You can serve the cake warm (which is my favorite), or you can allow it to cool and serve. (If you prefer a denser cake, be sure to wait until it cools.)

red beet gnocchi with a meyers lemon pesto // gf + vegan

Michael got me a food processor for Christmas. I asked for one. It was probably the last key piece of equipment I was missing from my kitchen.

It is kind of an embarrassing admission. A food processor should be one of the first additions, not the last, but I always seemed to get by without it. After using it once, I can totally see why they're so popular. This machine might change my life. 

As I was using my shiny new food processor for the first time I couldn't help but think about when I first started cooking a lot in college. I had nothing. No food processor, no vitamix, no mandolin ... I barley even had a sharp knife. I had one pot and no pans, which meant sauteing was done in a pot. YEP. Sometimes I'd even roast things in that darn pot. I always got it done. 

You know what .... it did not matter, because I loved to cook so much. 

 

This recipe is for my old college roommate, Kara, who willingly ate my home cooked meals back then ... the good ... the bad ... and the way too garlicky. Kara will never forget my love for pesto and she recently requested that I do a beet / pesto recipe for the blog. Thankfully I have a much better grip on the garlic proportions now (note: less is always more). 

Since I know she probably will not make this for herself, this is my way of coaxing her to visit me in NYC. 

Gnocchi is easier to make than you might think. The ingredient list is short, and it is pretty hard to mess it up. The most challenging part is to get that dreamy, pillow-like texture. I give some tips in the recipe to tackle that. For this particular recipe, I used a gluten-free flour blend and I did not taste the difference from when I made gnocchi with whole wheat flour. If you would like to use all-purpose or whole wheat flour, just switch out the brown rice flour (same/similar proportions). You can also use an egg or not use an egg. I find that the eggs helps bind so that you use a little less flour, but if you do not want to use the egg, the recipe will work fine without it. 

I just love the gorgeous color that the beets add to this dish. It would make for a great valentine's dinner for two, or this would also make a great meal for a friend who comes to town to visit (wink wink Kara). 

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