Heavenly Cake/
Torta Bella
½ cup of extra virgin olive
oil, plus more for the cake pan
1 ½ cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups of confectioners’
sugar
Grated zest (orange part
only, without the underlying white pith) of 1 orange
Grated zest (yellow part
only, without the white pith) of 1 lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan with olive oil. Sprinkle the inside of the
pan with flour and rotate the pan to coat the sides and bottom evenly.
Sift the 1 ½ cups of flour
and baking soda together into a small bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk the
whole eggs and confectioners’ sugar together until creamy, smooth, and doubled
in volume. Add the zests and about half the salt and beat well. Alternately add
the olive oil and flour mixture to the sugar mixture, stirring gently after
each addition.
In a medium-sized bowl, using
an electric mixer at high speed, whip the egg whites with the remaining salt until
they hold stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted up. Add about one fourth of
the whites to the batter and, with a spatula, gently fold them in, scraping the
batter from the bottom of the bowl over the whites. Fold in the remaining
whites the same way.
Pour the batter into the
prepared pan and bake until the top is deep golden brown and springs back
quickly when pressed with your finger, about fifty minutes. Cool cake. With a
thin bladed knife, around the edges of the pan and release the sides of the pan.
Cool the cake completely, may take ½ hour. Can garnish with mint, fresh
strawberries and cream.
Apple
Cake
7 apples, such as Gala, Red Delicious, Jonathan, Granny
Smith, Golden Delicious
Peeled and sliced into chunks.
1 ½ cups of vegetable oil
2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of walnuts, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a cutting board, slice apples and discard seeds
and skin. Set aside apple slices. In a large bowl, beat together oil, sugar,
cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix with an electric mixture and
slowly add flour, baking soda and then apples. Stir in walnuts or continue to
beat with mixture on medium speed using a spatula to clean sides of bowl. Place
in a greased loaf pan and cook for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
in the center. May dust with powdered sugar, and also you can add cranberries
or raisins to the Autumn Harvest Cake. Pecans can also be substituted in place
of walnuts.
Chocolate
Biscotti Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of firmly-packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon of
baking powder
¾ of a teaspoon of salt
3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder, 100% Cacao
3 eggs
1/3 of cup olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed of orange juice
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds
Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, with an electric mixer, blend sugars, eggs, butter,
vanilla extract, olive oil, and orange juice. Next, add baking powder, salt and
flour. Continue to mix, add flour a cup at a time, using a spatula to blend
mixture. Finally, slowly add the chocolate chips and nut of your choice. Next,
with your hands, mold the dough first into a ball and then into a loaf. Place
loaf on a greased baking sheet (a Tablespoon of butter or a spray of cooking
spray or even a dab of olive oil on the pan spread will help prevent sticking.
Flatten dough into a loaf shape with your hands. In a preheated 350 degree oven, bake for 20
minutes, take out loaf and cut with a sharp knife, into diagonals cookies about
¾ th of an inch thick. Return to oven, and bake on each side of the cookie for
an additional ten minutes. If you bake both sides, you will have an extra
crunchy biscotti cookie. For a softer biscotti, return to oven and bake on only
one side for ten minutes.
