Holiday Baking: Orange Cardamom Olive Oil Cake

Flavorful, light, moist, and guaranteed to be a hit at your holiday gathering! You can enhance the orange flavor of this recipe with our Whole Fruit Blood Orange Olive Oilor our Cara-Cara Orange Vanilla Balsamic!

Cake:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1tablespoon finely grated orange zest, from an untreated orange
• 1/2teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:

• 1/4 cupsugar
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1tablespoon Gran Marnier or Cointreau
• Pinch of sea salt

Optionals:

• Powdered sugar
• Whipped cream

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan lined with parchment.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until light in color. Add the olive oil, orange juice, zest, vanilla and almond extract and stirto blend.
3. Combine the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt in a separate bowl.Add to the wet ingredients, stirring to blend without over-mixing. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes clean, about 45minutes.
5. While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze. Combine the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan. Simmer until the sugar dissolves and the liquid reduces to a syrupy consistency, about 2minutes, stirring constantly. Add the Gran Marnier and sea saltand simmer 1 minute, stirring frequently.
6. Transfer the cake from the oven to a wire rack. Brush the top with the glaze and cool 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan, then brush the cake on the sides with the glaze. Cool completely.
7. Serve dusted with confectioners sugar and/or with a dollopwhipped cream. If desired, add a tablespoon of the (thoroughly cooled) glaze to the cream while whipping.

Photo and Recipe by:tastefoodblog.com