Another great cake--Rosemary, Olive Oil and Orange Cake

I mistakenly posted this on my Studio Notes blog--sorry!  I took it down there and put it up here where it belongs.

I cut out a recipe for this cake from the New York Times several months ago, and was reminded of it when going through my files a couple of weeks ago. In the wake of enjoying a couple of rosemary gimlets, and my success with the somewhat complicated mocha chocolate chip cake, I decided to give this one a whirl. The cake garnered many compliments when served after Shabbat services last Friday, and I enjoyed making it.  The crystallized rosemary was a nice touch (double click on the photo for a close-up), not hard to do, and was even edible, which I didn't expect.  It happens that I always have rosemary in the garden in the summer, but this was good enough that I'd buy fresh rosemary in the store if I didn't have it on hand.  This is more of an "afternoon tea cake" rather than a dessert cake, but I think most people would enjoy it anytime.

ROSEMARY, OLIVE OIL, AND ORANGE CAKE

slightly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018649-rosemary-olive-oil-and-orange-cake

Yield: 18 small servings, 12 generous ones

Crystallized rosemary: Prepare this at least 6 hours before icing the cake.

10 small rosemary sprigs, no more than 1" each in size (Pick either the very tops of 10 sprigs or the smaller, bottommost clumps off large sprigs.)

1 egg white, lightly whisked

about 2 t. granulated or superfine sugar

Brush each rosemary sprig on all sides with a little of the egg white and then dip it in the sugar, lightly coating the needles on all sides. Place the coated sprigs on a wire rack to dry, and leave for at least six hours.

The cake:

about 2 T. unsalted butter, softened, for greasing the pan

2 cups all purpose flour, and a bit more to flour the pan

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup plus 1 t. sugar (original recipe called for "superfine" sugar, but I used regular granulated and it was fine)

1 T. finely grated orange zest (from about 1-1/2 oranges)

1-1/2 T. packed finely chopped rosemary leaves (going up to 2 T. would be fine)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup (130 grams) sour cream (I put the gram measurement here because the batter was quite thick and one commenter noted that the gram measurement yielded more than 1/2 cup, which was helpful for the consistency.)

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Grease a 9-inch Bundt pan with 1 T. of the softened butter, refrigerate for 10 minutes, and then butter again, generously. Toss in a little flour to dust the greased pan, discarding the excess.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, mix together on medium speed until combined the olive oil, sugar, orange zest, and chopped rosemary leaves. Then add the eggs, one at a time.  Whisk for another minute or so, until thick.  Then add the sour cream and mix on low speed until combined.

Sift together into a small bowl the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined.  Increase the speed to high and whisk for 1 minute.

Scrape the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine needed 35), until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. (Since the cake is made with olive oil rather than butter, it won't look golden brown on top, but you should see a peek of brown around the edge from the buttered sides of the pan.)  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Once the cake is completely cool, it can be iced.

The icing (make after the cake has cooled):

1-3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1-1/2 T. freshly squeezed orange juice (and a little more, as needed)

2-1/2 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice (and a little more, as needed)

In a small bowl, whisk together until smooth (or use a hand mixer) the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and lemon juice.  I needed a little more than the measurements above to get a consistency thin enough to pour over the cake, so squeeze more and then use what you need to get the desired consistency.  Prepare a serving plate with 4 triangles of waxed paper, points towards the center.  Put the cake onto the paper and drizzle the icing on top, allowing it to drip down the sides of the cake.  Top immediately with the crystallized rosemary. For the beauty of the final product, do take a look at the NYTimes example as well as the photos here of my own cake.