Tangerine Olive Oil Cake

 

Another fun excuse to bake: house dinners. My roommates and I were having a house dinner with the couple downstairs, and of course I volunteered to make dessert. I stumbled upon this Tangerine Olive Oil Cake recipe on tastespotting.com, and thought it was worth a try. I was about to tackle this at my apartment without a stand mixer, but thankfully I ended up at home that weekend and used my parents' KitchenAid mixer (this is one of those recipes that you really need it - I generally get by without one). The tangerines were delicious (I used honey tangerines), and I had some juice leftover that I just drank straight. Mmm. This is definitely a great bread recipe to try and it's good for entertaining if you want to impress guests with something they've never heard of. One note: definitely put aluminum foil over the bread when it's about halfway done cooking, because mine ended up bring pretty dark/almost burned at the end.

• 5-6 large tangerines (I used honey tangerines)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 3/4 tsp kosher salt (or 1 1/2 tsp table salt)
• 5 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350º and place rack in middle of oven, removing any racks above. Grease and flour two loaf pans, or one bundt or tube pan.

Finely grate the zest of 3 of the tangerines, and set aside. Squeeze enough of the tangerines to get 1 1/2 cups of juice (this will take 5-6 tangerines). Set juice aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the eggs on medium-high speed for about a minute. Lower the mixer to medium speed, and slowly add the granulated sugar. Increase speed back to medium-high, and beat until the eggs are thick and pale, about 3 minutes.

On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and olive oil, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until the last bits of flour are combined. Add the reserved tangerine juice and zest, stopping to scrape down the bowl as necessary. Mix just until everything is well-combined; batter will be the consistency of a thick pancake batter.

Pour evenly into 2 loaf pans. Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Lay aluminum foil over the top of the loaves about halfway through baking, to prevent over-browning.

Remove finished cakes from oven, and transfer to a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely.