Mandarin and chili olive oil cake
This cake was inspired by the California-based olive oil (and vinegar) brand Brightland’s ARDOR chili olive oil. I first noticed Brightland on Instagram; the prettily designed UV-coated glass bottles is probably what caught my eye. I purchased ARDOR specifically because I wanted to see how it would work in a cake because I love a spicy dessert; I also picked up the ALIVE olive oil for drizzling over crusty bread, mostly. I appreciate that Brightland is transparent about where they source their olives from (a single-estate — meaning ingredients that come from one area of land — Central California farm). And yes, the fact that they get their olives from the land where my grandparents live made me happy to support them. It feels good to be able to make better choices about which companies I give my money to now that I have a little bit of money to spend on things like good quality olive oil from California. It feels bougie, but make it responsible to me.
(A note: About an hour after I posted a picture of this cake on Instagram someone from their social team was in my DMs asking if I wanted to share the recipe on their website. So, what follows is almost verbatim the copy that will accompany the recipe over there. I was expecting the recipe to be up quickly, for some reason, but they informed me they would be sharing it in the spring. No matter though, because it’s up here on my own website now and anyway spring is just around the corner. If you’d rather not use spicy olive oil for this cake, the 3/4 cup of Brightland oil can be replaced with any — Ina Garten voice — good olive oil, but please use whatever olive oil you have on hand. You don’t actually need to go out and purchase a special olive oil for this cake if you don’t want to. If you prefer to go this route, try adding a tablespoon of any ground chili powder to the dry ingredients if you’d still like to make the cake a bit spicy. Whisk to combine the chili powder into the flour and baking powder before adding to the wet ingredients.)
ARDOR, a blend of red chili pepper, jalapeño, chipotle, and paprika, takes this cake to a really spicy place. A dollop of whipped cream for serving would balance out some of the heat. I had big mandarins, also known as the Japanese dekopon, on hand for this recipe but any citrus will work in its place as long as you have 55 grams of citrus juice and about 2 tablespoons of zest. The eggs and buttermilk should be at room temperature to ensure proper emulsion into the batter (proper emulsion = a fluffy cake texture). The baking time range is largely dependent on whether your oven temp is accurate. Be mindful if you open the oven door at all during the bake to check on the status of the cake. Opening the oven door lets heat escape, which may affect overall bake time. This cake took exactly 40 minutes to bake in my oven; your oven may bake quicker or it may need more time. Use your senses to detect when the cake is done, e.g., you can see that the cake is golden in color; the sides of the cake have pulled away from the cake pan; the center of the cake feels pillowy/springy to the touch. As you whisk it into the rest of the ingredients, ARDOR will color the cake batter a lovely soft orange-red; a friend on Twitter said this cake looks sunny and that is an apt, cute descriptor.
Mandarin ARDOR Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from The Café Sucre Farine
Yield: One 9-inch round cake
Active time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 37-42 minutes
Total time: about 50 minutes
For mandarin simple syrup:
2 ounces water (¼ cup)
52 grams granulated sugar (¼ cup)
peel from 1 mandarin or other citrus
For the cake:
10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups; 240 grams)
½ tablespoon baking powder
7 ounces granulated sugar (about 1 cup; 197 grams)
3 large eggs, room temperature (58 grams)
6 ounces buttermilk, room temperature (about ¾ cup)
about 2 tablespoons mandrain or other citrus zest
55 grams mandarin or other citrus juice (¼ cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (½ ounces; 12 grams)
½ teaspoon (4 grams) kosher salt
3/4 cup Brightland ARDOR Chili Olive Oil
To make the mandarin simple syrup:
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, add the water, sugar, and mandarin peel. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let simple syrup steep and cool while you make the cake.
To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 325F. Spray a 9-inch x 2-inch round cake pan with cooking spray, or 1 tablespoon butter or oil, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, weigh out the flour and measure the baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs well until the mixture becomes lighter in color and slightly foamy (or “fluffy”), about 60 seconds. It’s best to use your eye though and when the mixture is looking lighter and foamy, it’s good.
Add the buttermilk, mandarin juice and zest, vanilla extract, and salt to the bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.
Set a fine mesh strainer over the mixing bowl, add the reserved flour and baking powder, and sift into the batter. Whisk dry ingredients just until fully incorporated into the wet ingredients.
Pour the olive oil into the bowl; whisk just until the batter is smooth and all ingredients are well incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick, cake tester, or fork inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 37-42 minutes (*see note about bake time range above).
Let the cake cool in the cake pan for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack that’s been set on a baking sheet. (I removed the dome on my cake with a serrated knife before inverting onto a cooling rack, but this step is not necessary).
Using a pastry brush or a spoon, brush/spoon citrus simple syrup over the cake. If you want, dust cake with confectioner’s sugar for a little additional sweetness and decoration.