Olive Oil Cake with Citrus and Sour Wild Cherries that I foraged for in the Forest

Thanks to Amanda Johnson and Pamela Sheldon John, whose recipe this is adapted from.

Makes one nice cake. Very Nice Cake.

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil, with lots of flavour (I used a Greek oil, from Crete)

1 cup milk (I used skim) or: EVEN BETTER: 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (fat free is fine)

Grated zest of 2 lemons

2 cups plus 1 tablespoon self rising flour, or enough to make a texture of cake batter

1/4 -1/2 teaspoon baking powder (admission here: i didn’t measure, just pinched, so its somewhere in between)

pinch (or two) salt

Optional: About 1/2 cup dried or half dry half fresh (and pitted, macerated with a bit of sugar) sour cherries

Powdered sugar for sifting over the top, if you like.

Preheat oven to 350F/ 160C/ gas mark 5. 

Prepare a baking pan–I used a tarte tatin pan which has a heavy bottom and sides and is about 10 inches in diameter– by rubbing with butter or oil, then dusting with flour to coat the inside of the pan.Set aside.

Beat the eggs with the sugar (I used a fork–very low tech), and when mixed well add the milk and lemon zest, and mix in well.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mix until JUST combined (mine was a bit lumpy), then if using, stir in the cherries. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and at this point I urge you to lick the batter from the bowl and spoon. So good!

Bake for about 50 minutes or so; the outside will be darkish brownish, the cake will be ready when the insides are no longer liquidy. Use a skewer (or dry spaghetti, or paring knife) to check for doneness.

Invert onto a plate, then invert onto another plate so that its right side up. In the process of inverting, this confession needs to be shared: the bottom, or much of it, didn’t come out with the rest of the cake. Not to worry, I just scraped it out with a spatula, patted it back onto the cake, and by the time I inverted it right side up, no one could tell.

And if you like, you can sift some icing sugar (powdered sugar) right over the top.