Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

Confession #1 - I am not a baker.

And that is not due to the crazy blood sugar thing. I love to eat sweet stuff - I have a theory that a rogue pancreas makes you crave sugar more. But making it? Lets just say when the annual cookie swap comes around every year, my pals prepare themselves for some epic whining from my corner. "Cookies??!!!! I have to make four dozen COOKIES??!!!! Can't I just provide the app and come to taste test?"

The thing is, I am completely, utterly, totally without any kind of patience whatsoever. (Another genetic defect, I'm afraid. Add it to the pile.) I usually start the cooking process after I'm already starving, and I'll pull things straight out of the pan and into my mouth, burning the crap out of my tongue. (It's all worth it in the end.) Baking takes a large chunk of time. And attention to details. And things like exactness in measuring, and following directions.

So again, back to the irony. The first recipe on my diabetic blog is for CAKE!!! ::giggle, giggle:: But since we're talking about me here, it's actually a really simple cake. The hardest part is cutting out a circle of parchment paper. (Another reason I avoid baking - so many extra steps.)




I've wanted to find something to do with meyer lemons for a very long time. I was looking for some kind of coffee cake like option, but this is better. It's not super sweet, except for the glaze, and the sage adds some interest.

(making sure I can eat the finished product.)

Oh, and unlike me, pay attention to the part that orders you to spoon the lemon syrup over the cake slowly and meditatively. Because apparently if you get impatient and just spoon it all on at once, the syrup runs down the sides of your cabinets and only a fraction actually ends up in your cake.

The recipe is originally from blue-kitchen.com. It makes eight pieces that are 60 grams of carb apiece or ten that are 48 grams of carb, according to my calculations (no guarantees there!)

Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

1-1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons Meyer lemon zest, divided
1/2 cup plain kefir or buttermilk (Note - I never keep buttermilk in my house. I just put a tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup of milk and go from there.)
1 scant cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup olive oil (not extra virgin) (Note #2 - I'm not sure why this recipe insists on NOT extra-virgin olive oil. It's all I keep in my house, so that's what I used and it tasted good to me.)
2 teaspoons fresh sage, finely minced

For syrup:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice

For icing:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice (Note #3 - My icing needed way, way more lemon juice than this to come together - like 5 teaspoons. I thought it odd the originally recipe said this would be runny, because with the original 2 1/2 teaspoons it was one big lump.)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Oil a 9-inch springform pan using the same olive oil you use in the cake. Cut a round of parchment paper for the bottom of the pan, place it in the pan, then oil that too. Sprinkle a little flour on the bottom of the pan. Bang the side of the pan with the heel of your hand to evenly distribute the loose flour.

Put into a medium bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and 4 teaspoon of the zest. Mix well with a fork.

In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk or kefir, eggs, sugar, olive oil and sage. Whisk thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk everything together. Pour into the springform pan. Place in the center of the hot oven.

Baking usually takes about 28 to 30 minutes, but set a timer for 24 minutes to be on the safe side. The cake is ready when a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven and put it on a rack to cool. After 10 minutes, take off the sides of the pan.

In another ten minutes, poke the cake all over with a heavy fork. Then mix together the syrup ingredients. If the sugar won’t entirely dissolve, heat it gently in a saucepan over low heat while stirring, just for 30 seconds or so. Carefully spoon the syrup on top of the cake, a little at a time. The idea is that the syrup will ooze into the cake through all those holes. Slowly pouring a spoonful of syrup onto the cake and then spreading it around with the back of the spoon helps and also is very meditative.

After you’ve spread all the syrup on the cake, go away for about 45 minutes. Then come back and mix together the icing ingredients. Coat the top of the cake with the icing—it will be a bit runny. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of zest on top.