Lemon and Olive Oil Yogurt Cake with Fresh Blackberry Limoncello Sauce

You know those recipes or ingredients you read about and think, "that sounds awesome, I should try it" but never really get around to them? For me just a few of those things were; a quick yogurt cake, a fresh fruit puree or sauce, olive oil cake, crème fraiche... And, that's how this cake came together, I bought a few ingredients and then all of a sudden I had this fancy cake.

It started at the grocery store, blackberries were on sale for just a dollar per package. I bought two and thought, blackberry sauce! As I browsed the alcohol aisle, checking for sales, I remembered the gorgeous bottle of Limoncello Katy gave me for Christmas. Limoncello blackberry sauce sounded much more interesting than blackberries all by themselves.

I already had lemons and yogurt at home, so a yogurt based cake (dozens of blog recipes for just this cake popped into my head) sounded perfect. It wasn't until I got home and started browsing recipes that I realized that I had no canola oil and I was dangerously low on butter, so my fat would have to come from olive oil. But that was okay, ever since my trip to NYC and the luscious Olive Oil Gelato we had at Otto, I'd been dreaming of an olive oil based dessert.

I guess the Blackberry sauce is technically a coulis, but that sounds so intimidating. Really you're just blending up a bunch of berries with some sugar and some liquid then straining out the seeds. It also makes a ton of sauce, we only used about half of it for the cake. So if you don't want lots of leftovers, I'm sure the recipe would halve nicely. And to make it non-alcoholic, bump up the lemon juice to two tablespoons and add a tablespoon of water. You may want to increase the sugar as well, just taste as you go.

This isn't an overly sweet dessert, I would call it a cake for adult tastes. The blackberry sauce is fresh and light with a hint of bitterness. The citrus in the cake shines through the subtle pepper-y notes of the olive oil. But it's the crème fraiche that pulls it all together. The rich, tangy cream balances out the flavors of the cake and sauce and supplants any need for extra sugar.

The final recipe combines and adapts Ina's lemon yogurt cake and Deb's lime yogurt cake from Smitten Kitchen (I imagine that the memory of the second recipe must have been in my head all along.) The sauce is a hybrid of this recipe at Epicurious and Deb's blackberry sauce. I'm so happy with how the cake came out, it has a lovely moist crumb and a bright lemon flavor. I think the olive oil adds a complexity to the cake's background but you could certainly use half olive oil, half canola or another light tasting oil for a milder flavor. Best of all, it's so easy, everything goes in one bowl and you don't even need a mixer.

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Lemon and Olive Oil Yogurt Cake

by Aubrey Dunnuck May-26-2011

Lemon juice and zest brighten up this moist, elegant yogurt cake while the olive oil adds complex and earthy notes.

Ingredients

1 cup Greek Yogurt, plain 1/3 cup Olive Oil 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract 1 cup Turbinado or Raw Sugar 1/3 cup Lemon juice, freshly squeezed Zest of one Lemon 2 Eggs 1 1/2 cups Unbleached Flour 2 teaspoons Baking Powder 1/4 teaspoon Salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan, with sides at least two inches tall, with parchment paper. Grease and lightly flour the pan (I used a butter and flour spray which worked beautifully.)

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, vanilla, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice and zest. Then whisk in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt right over the cake batter. Slowly whisk in the flour until just combined. Pour the batter into the pan and let it rest for around 15 minutes.

Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out crumb free. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for ten minutes then carefully flip the cake onto a large plate and then back onto the cooling rack for a little longer.

Serve warm or at room temperature with a healthy dollop of crème fraiche and large spoonful of Blackberry Limoncello Sauce.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 8-10 servings

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Fresh Blackberry Limoncello Sauce

by Aubrey Dunnuck May-26-2011

Ingredients

12 oz Fresh Blackberries 2 tablespoons Limoncello 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar 2 teaspoons Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Instructions

Blend all of the ingredients together using a blender, food processor or, my way, a stick blender, until smooth.

Strain sauce into a medium sized bowl, pressing seeds to extract as much liquid as possible.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: Total time: 10 mins Yield: A lot.