OLIV oil cake! Yup, that’s olive without the ‘e’! Blood Orange OLIV oil cake to be exact.
I stumbled upon an amazing find recently when strolling the streets of Niagara On The Lake, which seemed to pop up out of nowhere!
OLIV Tasting Room!
Intrigued, I popped inside and was about to be dazzled and amazed!
Shelves loaded with dark brown bottles, each bearing the same OLIV label, some where labelled extra virgin olive oil and even more were labelled balsamic vinegar. On closer inspection the words lime, mushroom, hot pepper, and chocolate, pineapple, raspberry, white cranberry pear popped out at me!
These, my friends, are just a few of the some 17 flavors of extra virgin olive oil and over 60 flavors of balsamic vinegar!
My mind starting turning…how am I going to incorporate these amazing flavors into some of my recipes! Oh, I had lots of ideas but the classic olive oil cake came to mind first, followed closely by mascarpone cheesecake with balsamic strawberries!
I contacted Stephanie, the regional manager, who so graciously invited me to come for a tasting with flavor specialist Fernando! And, let me tell you, he knows his stuff! Here is just a glimpse of some of the creations we got to try that day! And don’t let the gorgeous olive wood cutting boards distract you!
I had initially thought about using lime olive oil to flavor the olive oil cake, but Fernando suggested I try the blood orange and then drizzle it with a bit of cherry balsamic vinegar! No twisting of the arm needed.
I really could choose any flavor combination and it would be amazing! The cake turned out so moist, and with the addition of the cornmeal in the batter it has a slightly crunchy crust. It has a mild orange flavor with bursts of cherry throughout the crust.
The olive oils are pressed from olives grown on the farm in South Africa belonging to the founders and owners of OLIV. Their balsamic vinegars are available in Cask 12 or Cask 18 in a variety of flavors, or for the purists among us, a Cask 25, and are sourced from Modina, Italy.
Fernando, Stephanie and Rick!
Local visitors will be treated to a personal tasting experience that you will not soon forget! The OLIV team will have you using their oils and balsamics in ways you never even thought of! The butter flavored olive oil over popcorn….Speechless!!
A visit to OLIV Tasting Room’s web site will give you a host of information about the flavors, recipes, and locations! The nice thing is that they do ship to both Canada and the US as well.
I hope you enjoyed our visit to OLIV tasting room! The possibilities are endless!
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup OLIV Blood Orange extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp. grated orange rind
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup fine corn meal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- OLIV Cherry Balsamic Vinegar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9″ cake pan (that is at least 3 inches deep) by oiling the pan with a bit of the olive oil and dusting with flour. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper for easy removal.
- In a large bowl whisk eggs, sugar, milk, olive oil, vanilla and orange peel.
- In a separate bowl whisk together flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. The batter will be lumpy.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. Run a knife along the outside edge to loosen and turn onto a cake plate.
- When completely cool, drizzle with OLIV Cherry balsamic and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight!
- Serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.
Amazing olive oil cake. I just experimented with strawberry balsamic vinegar. If you are interested: http://www.simplelivingeating.com/2013/06/goat-cheese-strawberry-tartine-french.html
Can’t wait to try cherry and your cake. Pinning it.
Thank you Diane! It is becoming a bit of a addiction experimenting with balsamic flavors!
OMG cherry balsamic vinegar! MMMMM This cake looks absolutely delish!
Thanks Marilyn! Cherry balsamic is just the tip of the iceberg!!
What a great way to use olive oil for an oil based cake. It sounds great. I found your blog on Marvellous Monday’s.
Thank you Laura! Baking in Pyjamas! I love that name 🙂
Wonderful! We have a local place here with all sorts of amazing olive oils. My friend bought me a Persian Lime oil. Never thought to make such a rich cake with it, tho. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing at A Peek Into My Paradise TGIF Link Party! I can’t wait to see what you link up next week! I hope to see you at the (Not SO) Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/
Have a terrific week!
Hugs, Cathy
This looks amazing! I made ice cream with Blood Orange Olive Oil last summer! Visiting you from Tasty Tuesdays!!
http://www.jferriswheelof.blogspot.com/2012/06/blood-orange-o-olive-oil-ice-cream-with.html
Thanks Jenni! I will be checking out that ice cream 🙂
I LOOOOOOOOVEEEEE these stores. They are such an inspiration and that cake looks delicious. Thanks for sharing at What’d You Do This Weekend.
What a lovely cake! 🙂 And that balsamic vinegar sounds delicious! Would LOVE a slice of this beautiful thing! Thank you so much for linking up with me this week at Tasty Tuesdays! I’ve pinned this & shared it with my followers! Please be sure to stop back by the party and check out some of the other links!