Tuesday 15 June 2021

Red Rock Olives' Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Funny how things just keep on popping up, isn't it?  New Zealand has been on my radar lately, and so have pistachios.  I mean, I love 'em, but I rarely eat them or cook with them.  Yet here we are, with another recipe flavoured with delicious green pistachios.  And I get to use some of the huge supply of almond meal I have in the fridge.  I bought some a while ago to make something (what was that?), and ended up with a huuuuuge bag in my online grocery shopping.

I like to buy my olive oil from small and boutique Aussie farmers, so I sometimes buy from Red Rock Olives.  I saw this cake on their blog recently, and decided it had to be made.  So here we have it - an incredibly moist, and nutty cake - not too sweet, perfect at any time.  And it was a perfect way to use up some of the many olive oils I have on my pantry shelf.  I just can't stop buying 'em.  I must be an EVOOholic.  Sorry if I pinched that line from one of you :-) 


moist, nutty and flavourful

Serves 6-8:


ingredients:


50g./1.8 oz cocoa powder - I used black cocoa

125 mL/7 fluid oz boiling water

2 tsp vanilla extract

75g./2.7 oz ground almonds aka almond meal

75g./2.7 oz pistachios

1/2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)

175g./6.2 oz caster sugar

150 mL/5 fluid oz of a fruity olive oil

3 large eggs

icing sugar, to serve  - maybe 2-3 tbs

AND 2 Flake chocolate bars, broken up, OR 2 tbs dark muscovado sugar + 1 tbs cacao nibs + 1 Flake bar mixed together and thrown on the top, to serve - my idea!


Method:


Turn on your oven to 170C/340F

Prepare a 20cm/8 inch springform tin or a regular cake tin by lightly greasing and flouring the bottom and sides, and placing a piece of baking paper on the base

Sift the cocoa powder into a small bowl, then whisk in the boiling water till you have a smooth but runny paste, and let it cool down

Grab another small bowl, and whisk together the almond meal, pistachios and bicarb soda

In a medium-size bowl, place the sugar, the olive oil, and the eggs; beat for 3 minutes with electric beaters - or with a hand beater and lots of energy! - till you have a thick, and palely creamy mixture 

Pour/spoon in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, then add the nutty stuff and give it a quick whisk till incorporated

Into the prepared tin goes the batter, and bake for 40-45 minutes - (mine took 45 mins.)

It's ready when the cake is coming away slightly from the sides, and a skewer (yes, thrust into its dark heart) comes out clean - the cake will still look a teensy bit damp in the centre, which is a good thing

Cool it for 10 minutes on a wire rack (in the cake tin) then take it out of the tin and onto the rack till it cools completely

Dust liberally with icing sugar, and serve with cream or creme fraiche

I strongly suggest casting the chocolate Flakes, muscovado sugar and cacao nib mixture all over it too!


Pros of this cake:

so easy to make; so moist, and not too sweet; 'a nice surprise with the soft crunch of the pistachios' (thus spake Mr P.)

Cons: 

some people might find the olive oil a bit strong for them, and it has the slightest, slightest whiff of egginess, tho' we didn't mind at all, especially when paired with creme fraiche or ice cream



gather your ingredients


whisk the meal and nuts together


beat the cocoa mixture into the eggy mixture

batter ready for the oven at 170C/340F

out of the oven; baking paper ripped off its bottom

cooled and ready to eat

smother in cream or creme fraiche

yep, we dived in before the final photo :-)


© Sherry M.

(Joining up with Marg from Intrepid Reader for Weekend cooking.)


42 comments:

  1. A decadent cake! Chocolatey, nutty and so good with some freshly whipped cream! (Or a scoop of vanilla ice cream) Excellent!

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  2. The cake looks absolutely amazing, yummy and creamy. Would love to try it. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. That looks and sounds delicious!

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  4. Oh yummo Sherry, I needed a slice of this today 😋🍰☕

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  5. Come over for the next one - lemon 🍋 olive 🫒 oil cake 🧁!

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  6. Wow, that black cocoa really gives this cake a stunning appearance! I've used olive oil in cakes before, but that was quite some time ago. I should try it out again. This cake looks great for an evening treat - and I love the pistachios in there, too! Fun recipe, my friend!

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    1. yes i really like what the black cocoa does for cakes etc. looks really amazing. yep olive oil cakes are fun to eat and make.

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  7. Oh, I bet this is good. What in the world is black cocoa?!! I’ve never heard of it. Is it just a color thing? Well anyway, a very smart cake.

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    1. i think they heat-treat cocoa to make it black. more alkaline? less? not sure, but it gives a wonderful colour to food. thanks!

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  8. Your chocolate cake looks especially good on the Villeroy & Bosch plate. I have some of the dishes too!

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  9. Gorgeous looking cake! Looks rich and decadent -- just the way a cake is supposed to be! I try to limit the number of EVOOs in my pantry to no more than 3 or 4 at a time, just so I can use them up in a timely manner before replacing them. Tough to do, though, isn't it? :-)

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    1. thank you KR. i try not to be an EVOOholic but i just can't resist each delightful bottle that comes my way :)

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  10. Such a decadent rich cake! I really love the idea of using black cocao for achieving that stunning and intriguing colour! Also, everything is better with some pistachios :)

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    1. yes i love black cocoa. it gives the most wonderful hue to cakes etc.

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  11. The colour of this cake looks amazing! Never made an olive cake before and it was on my radar for quite sometime now, looks like I have to make some soon after reading your recipe

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    1. it's worth a go raymund. very moist and chocolatey.

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  12. The texture of this cake looks really good! I think I've finished with all of my black cocoa but it took so long to use up!

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    1. yes i bought mine ages ago and i still have plenty! a little goes a long way.

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  13. I tasted my first olive oil cake the other night and it was wonderful! So moist! Yours really has me excited because it's chocolate!!! Pinned!

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    1. yes they are wonderfully moist. I recommend serving this cake with lots of whipped cream; maybe even smothering it with a whole heap before serving.

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  14. It looks delicious and decadent.

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  15. I love cakes made with olive oil!The gluten free ones come out really moist.

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    1. hi balvinder
      this was very moist indeed. I'm a fan:)

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  16. I’ve never had a chocolate olive oil cake before… It sounds so rich and decadent!

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  17. I've had chocolate cake, I've had olive oil cake, but I've never had them together. I like both almonds and pistachios, so I think I'm going have to give this a go.

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  18. The cake looks fantastic, really yummy. I've never tried baking with olive oil.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. thanks amalia. olive oil makes wonderfully moist cakes.

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  19. I must try to bake with olive oil. I've been a baker for a long time, but I've never done that!

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    1. Yes olive oil makes lovely moist cakes.

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  20. Mom, that cake is SO dark! I love it!

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  21. I think this looks wonderful and the cons you listed wouldn't be cons for me. I would never have known you added pistachios by looking at the cake. I do love pistashios.

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    1. thanks tina. I love olive oil so it was no worry to us...

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  22. Yum! I love baking with olive oil - usually I use a very mild oil so that the flavour doesn't overpower the cake plus I'm too tight to use my really good oil in baking, LOL! This looks supremely delicious, someone really needs to invent lick-a-vision!

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    1. love the flavour of evoo so i use that for everything!

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