Weekend Cooking: Tunisian Orange Olive Oil Cake

Summertime, and the livin' is easy . . . and full of cake. Between our travels and warm-weather entertaining, we sure have been eating a lot of baked goods lately.

I've baked two small snacking cakes in the last week, and because both were hits, I want to share the recipes with you. (Plus, if I post them here, I won't lose them.) Today I'll post the first one, and next week, I'll type out the other.

The first cake recipe came from the Zingerman's Bakehouse cookbook by Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo (with photographs by Antonis Achilleos), which was published by Chronicle Books last fall.

You might remember the coffee cake recipe I posted last month (Sour Cream Lemon Poppy Seed Coffee Cake), which also came from this cookbook. I really do intend to write a full review of the book, especially because the publicist so nicely sent me a copy, but the short version is this: If you like to bake bread, sweets, snacks, pizza, and so on, you'll like this cookbook.

Zingerman's is a deli and bakery located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My family has been to their stores and restaurant many times, though my visits have been limited because it opened years after I moved away from the area. Locally, Zingerman's Bakehouse is the go-to place for good rye bread and challah, but their stores have a national (and likely international) reputation for good food and good products.

Anyway, I love citrus, and the following recipe kept calling to me. I took it to a dinner party, and everyone liked the cake and appreciated that it wasn't overly sweet. It worked well for dessert, for an afternoon treat, and with coffee in the morning. The recipe suggests a 9-inch round cake pan, but I used an 8-by-8-inch square pan instead. (The photo is mine.)

Zingerman's Tunisian Orange and Olive Oil Cake
Makes 1 cake

• 1 large seedless orange
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Wash the orange and cut off both ends. Cut the orange into quarters and put into a food processor, peel and all. Process until the orange is a pulp.

In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar. Use a whisk to combine, and then beat until light and smooth, about a minute. Add the orange pulp and olive oil and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar. Use a whisk to combine, and then beat until light and smooth, about a minute. Add the orange pulp and olive oil and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the orange mixture and stir gently until all the ingredients are combined. All the dry ingredients should be moistened.

Spread the cake batter into the pan and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan.

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