I consider myself a pretty good cook. I can neatly break down a chicken, and make mayonnaise from scratch. I can pleat dumplings, roll futomaki, fry doughnuts and, on one occasion, have turned carrots into roses.
But I cannot, for the life of me, take butter out of the fridge to soften.
This is why, whenever I want cake or am asked to bring a cake to a thing, I make an olive oil cake. This olive oil cake from Sam Seneviratne is especially excellent and super simple, as evidenced by its five stars and glowing reviews.
Sam’s cake is a great use for that extra delicious olive oil you might have, the one that’s really fruity and spicy. Her cake is also delightfully riffable; readers report swapping lemon zest for the vanilla extract, adding minced rosemary, sprinkling the top with chopped almonds. Most important, this olive oil cake will never ask you to have the foresight and planning required to take butter out of the fridge way in advance of baking. Olive oil cake: It gets you.
Featured Recipe
Olive Oil Cake
Spring is coming in fits and starts where I live, and my cooking is equally all over the place. Maybe your weekly menu is also a fun jumble of cold-weather comforts and light-jacket lightness?
For a “What, more snow?” Saturday: lush, fall from the bone seco de pollo (Ecuadorean chicken stew), a recipe from Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s cookbook “My (Half) Latinx Kitchen: Half Recipes, Half Stories, All Latin American,” adapted by Ligaya Mishan. “Submerged in broken-down tomatoes, naranjilla and beer, the chicken lounges, loosens, relents,” Ligaya writes. I would like to be this chicken. (By the way, you can use orange juice for the naranjilla.)
For an iced-latte Sunday: These honey-and-soy glazed chicken thighs from Kay Chun have strong “outdoor eating” vibes, even though they’re made on a sheet pan in the oven. Serve them with Ali Slagle’s orange-ginger brussels sprouts or Sue Li’s one-pot kabocha squash and coconut rice, both new and perfect for this shoulder season. I would also like a platter of Rick Martínez’s salpicón de pescado — spicy citrus-marinated fish — to pile into tortillas for tacos.
And for a Monday when it’s beautiful outside, because of course it is: brownies. Like the olive oil cake, Lidey Heuck’s brownies don’t need softened butter, they simply need butter melted with sugar and chocolate chips. These crinkly-topped treats can’t fix the fact that we had to spend a gorgeous spring day inside working, but they do make that indoor time a little nicer.
