Silky Lemon Olive Oil Cake

 Hello my friends! I am full of great information today - you are lucky.

 Like this bit of worldy knowledge:

If you really want to do something sweet, bake a cake for someone.

Make it a super simple cake, like this one, requiring little time, everyday ingredients and relies on fresh fruit for flavor.  It is summer and you have things to do other than keep warm in the kitchen like you have been doing all winter. People to save, galaxies to discover, weeds to pull.

Next time you smell the sweet aroma of a BBQ, you know what to do. I am providing you with the tools to make your summer very successful. Bake a cake and go make new friends. Life is going to be easy! You are also going to want to tuck a bottle of this wonderful Washington wine under your other arm. Bernard Griffin Rose of Sangiovese wins awards and will please everyone.

Rose and lemon cake..... it will work, promise.

You know it is summer, there are plenty of parties where you want to show up with something sweet, not from the deli counter. Considered yourself prepared and stop all the fussing.

Everyone loves gifts and presents that are edible, you just win every time. Make a cake with bright fresh fruit that pops with color and brighten every one's day.

When J had a birthday on Monday I knew that he would not be into something overly sweet and totally turned off by elaborate, honestly he didn't even want cake. I wanted cake. I wanted a silky smooth bright cake. I knew he would love this simple loaf that packs the flavorful in full force with out gagging on sugar. If fruit was in season I would have spiked it with some berries. Don't fuss that there is no berries in season or that the last of the frozen blueberries went into last week's smoothie, the lemon cake can pull it's own weight.

You are going to be okay, you have a perfect summer time cake.

Silky Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen and adapted loosely from Ina Garten,

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the pan.

Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and olive oil.

Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in.

Cool.

This cake is wonderful the first day when there is a paper thin shell of sugar coating over the top of the cake.

Caramelized Onion Hummus

I made it through college alive, amazing feat as I think back upon it, some people didn't. Time has slipped in several years between now and those dazed college years, I warmed many different houses, churned through a couple of boyfriends, and phased out a few different hair cuts. 

The first two years were uummmmm..... well I can't really remember them. The truth comes out, don't be like me. The first two years of college in my quiet but increasingly eclectic hometown,  I lived with my best friend in a cute little cookie cutter house on Sunset Drive, across the street from a beautiful Greek church. I had my first compost pile and I grew dahlias from my grandma at this house. There was lots of natural light that I did not appreciate and a wall of my bedroom was wood paneling, teek wood paneling, it was gorgeous. We had an apple tree as old as time and a useful clothes line in the back yard. We laid in the grass, next to the apple tree, for hours working on our tans and sipping iced tea. We were young and carefree, she sang all day long and let me wear her clothes, she listened, rolled her eyes and gave me big hugs as I churned through a couple boys, looking until I found the keeper, she forgave me as I grew into the much more sensible woman I am now. A true friend.

My friend skipped the whole college gig and went straight to work, we lived in completely different worlds but managed to see past this and enjoy each other immensely. She came home from work one summer day and I remember asking her if she would take me to Germany, crazy, she said yes. We went that Christmas and stayed with her family and friends in Berlin for three weeks. She met the love her life, a German chef and I was glad I made it home safe and sound. A few months later, her knight in shining armor came state side to ask for her hand in marriage and by that summer she got rid of everything that did not fit in her suitcase and moved to Germany. I had returned from Germany, in one piece and within a couple of months met J and as I said goodbye to one friend, I said hello to a new one.

I remember making hummus every week while balancing school, work, a boyfriend and all the other bells and whistles of college life. My kitchen was bare-boned and hand me down, my boyfriend's kitchen at the time was even sparser. We figured out how to use potato mashers and forks to smash the chickpeas to a chunky consistency, we used lots of olive oil and spoonfuls of tahnini. It worked, we were young and hungry and probably hung over.

A couple years pass, I am deeply in love with J and we are living in a one bedroom apartment about a mile from that house on Sunset Drive. Still in school, I much happier and healthier with a fresh outlook on life. J makes hummus for a dinner party and it was another sign that he was the one. His hummus was full of roasted vegetables rather then heavy with oils and tahini, it was the best I have ever had.  

Caramelized Onion Hummus

Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 1 sweet onion, caramelized
• 4 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed
• 2 15-oz cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• 2/3 cup of roasted tahini 
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• parsley, chopped for garnish
• smoked paprika for garnish

Over medium heat cook until caramelized a sweet onion.
 
In a food processor, combine the onion, mashed garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, 1/2 cup water, and olive oil. Process until smooth. Add salt, starting at a half a teaspoon, to taste.

Spoon into serving dish and sprinkle with toasted chopped parsley.

Serve with crackers, raw vegetables such as carrots or celery, or with pita bread.


**next up: those cute little crackers that I used to inhale this entire batch of hummus. you will love them!