Olive Oil and Fresh Rosemary Cake

Sunday afternoon — Emilia is down for her nap, Michael is out doing yard work, Governor is working on his suntan on the deck, and I just pulled out an olive oil and rosemary cake from the oven.

This little cake is wonderful in the afternoon with a hot cup of tea, or whatever happens to strike your fancy.  It takes about 10 seconds to make, isn't too sweet, and has absolutely no frosting.  (Sometimes we end up with a bit too much frosting in this house.)  It's perfect and I don't know why I don't make it more often.

Olive Oil and Fresh Rosemary Cake

4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325° F.  Butter a 10-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium size bowl (or just use your KitchenAid -- I would have, but didn't feel like hauling it down the hallway) beat the eggs for about 30 seconds.  Add the sugar, continue to beat until the eggs look nice and frothy and pale yellow.  With your beaters (or mixer) going, slowly add the olive oil.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the rosemary.

Then get a separate bowl and whisk all the dry ingredients together.  (That would be the flour, baking powder, and salt.)  Add to the wet ingredients and mix to combine.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through to get even coloring.  Insert a skewer, if it comes clean, pull it out.  If not, close the door and go back to reading the Wall Street Journal for a few more minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan for a few, then gently tip the cake onto a wire rack. Mmmm. (Recipe from: The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali. Random House, 2002.)