RAS Recipe of the Week

RAS = Random Act of Sweetness - see my earlier post about this for more info. Anyway this week's recipe makes quite a large cake, so it's perfect for sharing. It's also made with olive oil and blueberries, so you could even argue that it's good for you! I've made this cake several times with great success. It's quite a rustic cake - simple yet completely gorgeous to eat. Especially good with a cup of tea and some decent chatter with a friend. I'm going to keep posting one great baking recipe a week, to encourage those random acts of sweetness - so please email or post a note to let me know if you tried the recipes and of course how it went!

Olive Oil Blueberry Cake
Serves 10

4 eggs at room temp
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup extra light olive oil (note not extra virgin)
1 cup apricot nectar
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
300g blueberries (fresh, frozen, canned..up to you.)

Preheat oven to 170C (375F). Grease a large baking tin - say about 23 cm diameter if it's a circle, and 28x22cm is it's rectangular. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed until mixture is pale and thick. Stir in olive oil and nectar. Sift flour and baking powder over the mixture and gently fold in until just combined. Pour half the mixture into the tin. Top with half the blueberries, then put the rest of the mixture in. Top with remaining blueberries. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temp dusted with icing sugar (or premium vanilla ice cream, YUM!)

Enjoy!