Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Balsamic Raspberries

1) Make the balsamic raspberries. In a large bowl, add the raspberries and top with the sugar and the vinegar and gently stir to coat. Let the berries macerate for at least an hour and up to 4 hours at room temperature. Right before serving, add the pepper and stir into the mix.

2) Make the whipped cream. Pour the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into a chilled bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat the cream until light and fluffy and soft to stiff peaks form. Taste and adjust sugar level to your liking. Hold in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

3) Make your cake. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Add about a teaspoon of the lemon olive oil to a 9 inch round cake pan and brush the entire inside of the pan with the lemon olive oil. Line just the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and brush that with the lemon olive oil too. Put your prepared cake pan to the side.

4) In a large bowl, whisk together two cups of flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda until combined.

5) In a stand mixer bowl, beat the 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs and lemon zest until light and fluffy. (Five minutes).

7) Reduce the mixer too low and add the milk and lemon juice. Once incorporated, begin adding the flour mixture slowly so it all has a chance to incorporate.  Stop the mixer once or twice and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to fully incorporate the flour into the mix.  Helpful hint on lemons:  often store bought lemons are hard and don’t give off a lot of juice.  When possible, buy from a farmer’s market or fruit stand for fresh, juicy lemons.  If you do have a store bought lemon that is hard, you want to give it a little help to get the juices flowing.  Rub the whole lemon on the kitchen counter top pressing on the lemon.  Then, pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  This will get all the juices flowing and will double the amount of juice you get.

8) Pour into the prepared cake pan and shake gently to smooth out the top. Sprinkle with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.

11) Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Slice and serve with the homemade whipped cream and balsamic raspberries.  Helpful hint:  I keep one of those powdered sugar shakers filled with confectioner’s sugar in my spice cabinet ready to go at a minutes notice.  Since I like to finish a lot of my desserts and brunch items with it, it has become this super handy way to get it done fast.  I used to pull out a small handheld sifter and scoop the sugar into in and then dust over my baked goods.  That gets old fast and I would often skip the step.  Having that little tin ready to go makes my desserts look so much better.  I also have a second one with cinnamon.

NOTES:  This is one delicious cake.  The Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Balsamic Raspberries is a winning combination.  Add a dollop of homemade whipped cream to bring the whole dish together.  YUM!

This isn’t a sweet dessert.  It has a lot of flavor combos happening and the richness of the lemon olive oil and balsamic vinegar make it most, delicious and different.  The lemon juice and olive oil in this recipe are perfect together and when the zest is added, you get that sweet and delicious lemon flavor throughout the whole cake.

For the whipped cream, I use a high quality pure Tahitian Vanilla extract and just a little sugar.  I can whip it up a couple of hours before serving and keep it in the fridge.  If you want to make a vegan lemon olive oil cake, just omit the whipped cream and substitute an almond, oat or soy milk.

The berries get a surprise treatment with the balsamic vinegar.  The raspberries just sing after sitting in the vinegar and sugar mixture.  The real surprise comes with the addition of the pepper.  Unexpected, right?  I had seen it on a few recipes and thought I’d give it a try.  The pepper does to this dish what salt does to sweet dishes… just gives it a little something extra that no one is expecting.  Try it.

For the cake itself, I’m sure you’ve all tried olive oil cake at one time or another.  If not, you are in for a treat.  The cake is so moist and rich.  My use of the lemon and olive oil just ups the lemon flavor and works beautifully with the zest in the recipe.

You can get both the balsamic vinegar and lemon olive oil at Patricia and Pauls.

Raspberry lemon cake… it doesn’t get any better!  If you like that flavor combo, be sure to try some of my other savory dishes too.

Lemon Brioche French Toast with Whipped Ricotta and Raspberries

Smashed Cucumbers and Raspberry Salad

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

Raspberry and Lemon Salad with Crispy Chicken Croutons