I made this cake as part of our covid-19 cooking sessions with friends over zoom. It was suggested the cake could also be called the 3x cake as all ingredient amounts are a factor of 3, except for the lemons which you could adjust to 3. The cake is quite moist (see tips) and was really enjoyed by all who ate it.

The recipe is taken from the book Ostro by Julia Busuttil Nishimura.

 

Ingredients

Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons (see tips)

300 g caster sugar

3 eggs at room temperature

300 ml full cream milk

300 ml full extra-virgin olive oil (I used lemon infused olive oil to intensify the lemon flavour)

300 g self raising flour

 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (less for a fan forced oven). Brush a round 20 cm cake pan with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest and sugar together until the sugar is fragrant and damp.
3. Add the eggs and whisk with an electric beater until pale and thick.
4. Add the milk, olive oil and lemon juice and whisk well to combine.
5. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and make a well in the middle. Slowly add the wet ingredients, while mixing until just combined. The batter should be quite wet – the consistency of a thick pouring cream. If the batter is runnier than that, add a little more flour.
6. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for around 45 – 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing the cake from the pan and cooling completely.

 

Tips

The amount of juice from 2 lemons will vary on the size of the lemons and the time of year when you use the lemons. I used about 130 ml of juice from what I considered 2 medium lemons. Although, I considered the batter to be of the right consistency, I felt the cake was a tad too moist so would suggest about 115 – 120 ml lemon juice.