Sicilian Citrus Olive Oil Cake

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This cake has the perfect level of citrus flavour, it’s moist and stays fresh for days! The roasted pistachios offer the perfect contrast to the sweet, tart flavors of the cake but would still be excellent without! Change up the citrus, add grapefruit or blood orange if you prefer.

Equipment

1 Loaf pan or bundt pan

Ingredients

Cake mix

1 large orange
2 Meyer lemons (use any combo of citrus)
1 lemon
3 Large eggs
½ Cup plain Greek yogurt 115g
2 Cups All purpose flour 300g (see note)
½ Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp baking powder
1 ½ Cups granulated sugar 300g
1 Cup Extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tsp Kosher salt
Butter (For greasing pan. Nothing works better than butter for this)
2 Tbsp Mixed zests (lemon, orange etc..)
1/2 Cup + 2tbsp, Mixed juices divided (do as you wish, add just orange or just lemon or both)

Topping

½ Cup Roasted pistachios (Roast at 375F , 10-ish minutes)

Glaze

¾ Cup Powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp mixed zests from the different citrus
2 Tbsp Juice of your choice (lemon/orange)
1 Pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Position a rack in the lower 3rd of your oven and preheat at 350F
Lightly grease your loaf or Bundt pan. If possible line the bottom with a piece of parchment and grease the parchment.
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl finely grate your citrus until you have about 2 tablespoons of loosely packed zest. Add granulated sugar and use your fingers to massage the zest into the sugar until it’s well combined and the consistency of lightly damp sand, about 30 seconds.
Using a hand held mixer, beat in 3 eggs, one at a time until combined. Add yogurt and blend. Pour in olive oil and blend on medium speed until fully combined and no oily streaks are left behind.
Pour in 1/2 cup of juice (reserving the 2tbsp for glaze)
Combine wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix. You can finish with a rubber spatula to ensure there are no floury spots.
Pour batter into your prepared pan of choice.
You can place a cookie sheet on the lowest rack in case of drips.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. About 40 mins in a Bundt pan and up to 65 minutes in a loaf pan. When done, allow to cool for about 15 mins.
Run a knife around the edges of the cake pan to help release the cake from the sides if necessary. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the glaze: Add the reserved 2tbsp of juice, about 1 tbsp zest and ¾ cup powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until cake has cooled fully.
Chop roasted pistachios and set aside.
Once completely cool, drizzle the reserved glaze over the cake and quickly add the pistachios so they stick to the glaze. Otherwise the sugar will set and the pistachios will fall off.

Notes

Flour: If you look up the conversion for 2 cups of AP flour into grams, it’s 250g. However when I measured 2 cups and weighed it, it came out to 300g. There is always a discrepancy. I find that 300g is the perfect amount of flour. When I tried with 250g, my cake was good but a little flat on top.