Recipe: Lemon, Almond, and Summer Berry Swirl Olive Oil Cake

Lemon, Almond, and Summer Berry Swirl Olive Oil Cake

Recipe by Elizebett Rocha Bento Eslinger

My neighbor has a mulberry tree that partially hangs over our side of the fence (and she has encouraged us to partake)! The tree produces deep purple berries that are sweet, tart, and full of teeny tiny seeds. Because of the seeds, these mulberries haven’t been the best for fresh eating, but they are my favorite berries to cook down, strain, and swirl into this lemon and almond olive oil cake. Mulberries can be hard to come by, so feel free to use your favorite berries to make the syrup. 

With a swirl of berry color and sprinkles of almonds and sugar, this cake doesn’t need any other decoration once it comes out of the oven. Makes 1, 8-inch cake. 

Marbling Syrup

• 100g (3.5 oz) fresh or frozen berries
• 20g (~1.5 tbsp) granulated sugar (more or less to taste) 
  
• pinch table salt
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp water

Cake Ingredients

• 185g (~1 ¼ cups) all-purpose flour, sifted
• 60 g almond flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 140 g (~¾ cup) granulated sugar
• 110 g (~½ cup) milk
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 60 g (~⅓ cup) olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 8 g (~1 tbsp) grated lemon zest
• ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sliced almonds
• 1 tsp to tbsp granulated sugar

Directions - Making the Marbling Syrup 

1. In a small saucepan, stir together berries, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring regularly. Reduce heat to medium low.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Slowly add the cornstarch slurry to the warm mixture, stirring constantly. Continue to simmer and stir, for about 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and a spatula passing through the middle of the mixture leaves a trail that takes about 2 seconds to close (or, a drop on a cold plate takes 3 seconds to stop its drip when the plate is turned on its side).
3. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer (to catch the seeds) into a small bowl. Depending on the amount of seeds, there should be about 50g (~2 tbsp) of filling.
4. Cool to room temperature and then transfer to a piping bag.

Directions - Making the Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the edges of the pan and the parchment paper with non-stick baking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, use a hand whisk to mix the flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand whisk to mix the sugar, milk, vinegar, oil, eggs, zest, and vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
6. Use the piping bag to dot syrup circles randomly in the cake batter. Use a butter knife to cut lines through the circles, so it creates a feathering/marbling effect.
7. Scatter almonds over the batter. Sprinkle 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of sugar on top.
8. Bake for 30-45 min, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a few crumbs, sides are pulling away from the edges of the pan, and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
9. On a wire rack, let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on the wire rack before serving.