recipes

Apple Cake Made with Olive Oil

Makes 1 cake, serves 8 – 10 from Catherine's Roman Holiday

Ingredients

• 200g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 150ml olive oil
• 350g flour
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 110g golden raisins or sultanas
• Pinch of salt
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 500g of cooking apples, peeled and diced, about 1 ½ cm

Method

1. Preheat the oven 180C/ Gas 4.
2. Place the sultanas / raisins in a bowl of hot water and allow to soak for 15 minutes, to plump up.
3. Whisk the sugar and eggs until doubled in volume and pale cream in colour. Warm the olive oil and slowly whisk in with the eggs and sugar.
4. Sieve the flour, cinnamon, ginger, bread soda, salt and baking powder together. Then gradually add in to the oil and sugar mixture. Fold in well.
5. Drain the raisins / sultanas from the water and add to the mixture along with the lemon zest and diced apples. Mix thoroughly. The mixture should be stiff at this stage.
6. Butter and flour a 20cm spring form cake tin and spoon in the mixture. Bake for at least 1 hour, until a skewer placed in the middle comes out dry. Carefully remove the cake from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.