The Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Mascarpone and Berries arrived at my elbow without warning, balanced on a small white plate, set down by the chef himself. He had been pouring Pigato two minutes earlier. Now he wanted me to try the thing he was working on between courses.
I was sitting at the marble counter of a wine bar in Genoa, in the Maddalena quarter, on a Tuesday night in late October. Six seats. One chef. A handwritten chalk list of wines, no English anywhere.
A Wine Bar in Genoa
The place was called Vinoteca Sola, or something close to that. My Italian is mostly food words and apologies, so I had pointed at things on the chalkboard and trusted him. He had already brought me anchovies under oil, a bowl of trofie with pesto so green it looked unreal, and a sliver of focaccia he warned me was still hot.
Between plates, he was tinkering. A new dessert for the menu. He said, in slow Italian and a lot of gesturing, that he was trying to use the same olive oil that went into the savoury food. Same Ligurian taggiasca pressed about an hour up the coast. He wanted the cake to taste of it.
It did. The crumb was still slightly warm when I cut into it, the lemon hit first, then the oil came in late and grassy, almost peppery on the back of the tongue. A spoonful of soft mascarpone slumped sideways on top. Three raspberries, one halved blackberry. That was it.
I asked him how. He scribbled the ratio on a square of brown bakery paper. I still have it.
The History Behind the Cake
The proper name is torta all’olio d’oliva al limone. It comes out of the olive-growing regions of Italy, Liguria especially but also Apulia and Sicily, where olive oil was historically more plentiful and cheaper than butter. Home cooks used what they had.
The tradition goes back to the Greeks and Romans, who used olive oil as their working fat for everything including sweet baking. In southern Italy in particular, where lemons grow loud and yellow along the coast, the citrus version became the everyday one. It is breakfast cake. It is afternoon cake. It is what you eat with a coffee at eleven in the morning, standing at the bar.
One thing I want to clear up. This is not a health-food cake. It uses three quarters of a cup of olive oil and a full cup of sugar in a nine-inch round. Anyone telling you olive oil cake is the lighter version of pound cake is selling you something.
The mascarpone and berries are a newer thing. That part of the dish belongs to modern restaurant kitchens. The home Italian version is plain, or just dusted with powdered sugar. The chef in Genoa was doing the restaurant version, and so am I.
What I Used
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup fruity Italian extra virgin olive oil, taggiasca when I can get it
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon zest, about three lemons’ worth
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup whole milk, or whole-milk yogurt
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, or Italian 00 if I am feeling tidy
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 8 oz cold mascarpone
- 3/4 cup cold heavy cream
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups fresh mixed berries
Making This Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Mascarpone and Berries
The olive oil is the whole game. I tried this in my own kitchen the first week back, with a supermarket bottle I had on the counter. Flat. Like the cake had been dusted in nothing in particular. The second time, I walked to the little Italian deli on Hyperion in Silver Lake and bought a small bottle of Ligurian oil. Different cake.
I get the lemons at the Wednesday farmers’ market when they have them, the small bumpy ones with thin skin. Three lemons gets me the two tablespoons of zest the recipe needs. I do the zesting straight over the sugar with my microplane so the oils go into the sugar instead of evaporating into the kitchen.
The step you cannot rush is whipping the eggs and sugar. Four to five minutes on medium-high, until the mixture is pale and ribbony and falls in a slow band off the whisk. This is what gives the cake its lift and its texture, and it is the same reason the oil never feels greasy in the finished crumb. The egg and oil have to emulsify. If you tip the oil in all at once, you get a heavy, oily wedge.
I had to stop short of overmixing the flour the first time and I undermixed it instead. Pockets of dry flour at the bottom of the pan. Embarrassing. Now I fold it in over two additions and stop the second the streaks disappear.
It bakes at 350 F for about 38 minutes in my oven, which runs a little hot. Yours will be different. Watch for the deep gold colour and the slight pulling-away at the edge.
The Mascarpone and the Berries
Cold mascarpone, cold cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, one to two minutes on medium and not a second longer. Soft, billowy, barely-there peaks. Overwhipped mascarpone turns into a grainy mess that no one wants on a cake.
I do not bother arranging the berries. The chef in Genoa did not, either. He just scattered them, and a couple rolled off the plate. He left them where they fell.
A dusting of powdered sugar at the end. A thin drizzle of the same olive oil over the mascarpone if I want to be precious about it, which I sometimes am. A small espresso on the side, or a glass of Moscato if it is the kind of evening that wants Moscato.
I almost skipped this cake on the menu that night in Genoa. I was full. I am very glad I did not. It travels well in memory and even better in a notebook.
Lemon Olive Oil Cake With Whipped Mascarpone And Berries
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9 inch round cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment, and lightly flour the sides, tapping out the excess.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the eggs and granulated sugar. Whip on medium-high for 4 to 5 minutes until the mixture is pale yellow, thick, and falls in a ribbon when you lift the whisk.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly stream in the olive oil in a thin, steady drizzle, taking about 1 minute. The batter should look glossy and emulsified.
- Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and whole milk. Mix on low just until combined.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the flour mixture over the wet ingredients in two additions, folding gently with a rubber spatula after each one until no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan once on the counter to release any large air bubbles.
- Bake on the center rack for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is deeply golden, the cake is domed, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The edges should be pulling away slightly from the pan.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a thin knife around the edge, invert onto the rack, peel off the parchment, and turn right side up to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- While the cake cools, make the whipped mascarpone. In a clean mixer bowl, combine the cold mascarpone, cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Whip on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, just until the mixture holds soft, billowy peaks. Do not overwhip or it will turn grainy.
- To serve, place the cooled cake on a serving plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar. Spoon generous clouds of the whipped mascarpone over the top, letting it drift toward the edges.
- Scatter the fresh mixed berries over the mascarpone, slice into wedges, and serve at once.