Strawberry Pistachio Olive Oil Cake Recipes

STRAWBERRY & PISTACHIO OLIVE OIL CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of a 23cm cake tin. Put 200g of the pistachios in a blender, and whizz until it looks like ground almonds.
• Whisk the sugar and eggs together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy - this should take about 5 mins. Add the olive oil, continually whisking, then fold in the ground pistachios, cornmeal or polenta and baking powder with a pinch of salt. Fold in the strawberries, then scrape into the tin. Roughly chop the remaining pistachios and scatter over the top.
• Bake for 50-55 mins until golden and risen. Leave to cool in the tin to room temperature before transferring to a cake stand or plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with crème fraîche or yogurt and extra strawberries.

OLIVE OIL STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Steps:

• Place strawberries, orange zest and juice and 1/4 cup sugar into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until strawberries are soft and broken down, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Pour eggs and 1 cup sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip until frothy and pale yellow. Slowly add olive oil, continuing to whip. Slowly add the flour mixture. Add milk and mix for 2 more minutes. Fold in the strawberry compote. Swirl the jelly in with a spatula, but don't overmix.
• Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Transfer batter to the cake pan. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the top. Bake on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert out of the pan to a rack to cool completely, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Serve cake sliced into wedges with whipped cream.

PISTACHIO POUNDCAKE WITH STRAWBERRIES

Steps:

• Prepare the cake: Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-x-5-x-3-inch loaf pan.
• Grind the pistachios in a food processor just until they resemble coarse meal. Be careful to not grind them into pistachio butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and pulse until combined.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, then, with the mixer still running, slowly stream in the sugar. Cream the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Occasionally stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.
• With the mixer on low speed, add half the flour mixture, then the milk, and finally the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then remove the cake to a rack to cool completely.
• Prepare the strawberries: Combine sugar, lavender and vanilla seeds in a mortar and grind with a pestle until the lavender is broken up into fine bits and the sugar is fragrant.
• Hull the strawberries and slice in half if they are small, or in quarters if they are larger. Combine the sliced berries and sugar mixture in a bowl and stir gently. Let macerate for at least 15 minutes at room temperature before serving.
• To serve, slice the cooled cake into thick pieces and top each slice with a generous spoonful of berries and their juices. Top with whipped cream. Extra cake keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

PISTACHIO OLIVE OIL CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (fan assisted) / Gas Mark 3; and grease an 9 inch (23 cm) spring form cake tin.
• Put pistachios into a food processor and blend to a fine powder.
• Melt butter gently in a pan and add to olive oil.
• Whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Slowly add the butter and oil mixture into the whisked egg mixture a little at a time with the whisk on a low speed until you have a thick emulsion.
• Sift the flour, then whisk the dry ingredients (polenta, plain flour, baking powder and pistachios) into the egg mixture.
• Add the juice and zest and fold into the mixture.
• Add the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes. Don't worry if the cake is slightly underdone in the middle - the cooling process will finish it off.
• Rest in tin for 10 minutes then turn out and cool on a cake rack.
• Dust with icing sugar then serve.