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Almond Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

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Olive oil cake is probably my most favorite of all, it’s moist and dense and the texture is divine….now add some almond and a brown butter glaze and that is as close to dessert heaven as it gets in my book!

When I first saw olive oil cake on the menu in Italy, I thought it would be an overwhelming amount of oil coupled with a strong taste that I wasn’t sure of but ……could I have been more wrong? Why and how could I doubt the masters of my favorite cuisine? For a moment I did, at least until I trusted the waiter and placed my order with a vin santo to wash it down.

It arrived and as classically true to Italian sweets, it was a simple cake and presented on a ceramic dish with a sprig of rosemary along the side. I thought to myself, this is fairly non-descript but I sliced through it with my fork and in went the first bite (I honestly wasn’t expecting much) and then came the myriad of flavors, olive oil, orange, and almond. The simplicity of the preparation allowed all those familiar pairings to come together perfectly. I followed it up with a sip of the divine vin santo and just allowed my senses to dance. It was a beautiful surprise and one that lingered with me throughout my vacation.

Because of that first encounter, I often make olive oil cake and recently came across this recipe of almond olive oil cake with brown butter glaze and KNEW I needed to experiment. The end product delivered and met my expectation of divinity….and best of all my mouth got to dance again just like that first evening we met back in Italy.

5.0 from 1 reviews
Almond Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Almond Olive Oil Cake:
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup almond meal
  • 1½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 3 large eggs room temperature
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup milk or orange juice
  • zest of one orange
  • Brown Butter Glaze:
  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 T milk
  • few drops of lemon juice
  • ½ cup honey glazed almond sliced or blanched sliced almonds
Instructions
  1. Prepare Cake:
  2. Preheat oven to 350
  3. Grease and flour a 8 inch cake pan or springform pan
  4. In a bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt
  5. In a mixer, put in eggs and sugar and mix well. Pour in the olive oil and mix until combined and add milk (or orange juice), zest, and both extracts.
  6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, until combined.
  7. Pour cake batter into cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean)
  8. Allow cake to cool on rack for 10 minutes before taking out of pan and then allow to cool completely
  9. Brown Butter Glaze:
  10. Heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook butter, until it is golden brown in color. Remove from heat immediately (it will continue to darken), set aside and cool to room temperature
  11. In a separate bowl, mix together powdered sugar and milk. Add cooled butter and lemon and stir. Stir in almonds.
  12. Place rack over lined baking sheet and pour and spread glaze evenly on top allowing it to drizzle over the side. Let glaze set before serving

Almond Olive Oil Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

Brown Butter Sage Walnut Bread

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Everyone on my Christmas list this year got a loaf of this bread with our homemade apple butter. To me, there is nothing better than giving and receiving homemade gifts during the holidays or anytime for that matter. It takes time and love to create gifts and I completely appreciate the heartfelt effort.

Anyone who knows me realizes that I like treats that aren’t over the top sweet and this savory bread is SO good!  I didn’t want to bake traditional banana bread or cranberry bread but instead I wanted to kick things up a notch and get creative. My inspiration came from my LOVE of brown butter, I adore it with mash potatoes, over sweet potato ravioli, or sautéed with squash so I decided to try it in a bread and since sage is one of my all time favorite herbs, especially this time of year, I couldn’t imagine a better combination. It is such a surprise when you bite into a piece and taste the nutty flavor from the brown butter and the earthiness with the sage. There is just enough sugar to enhance the combinations and then add a great cappuccino to the menu and you have PERFECTION!!! So comfy food yum!

The list is endless with what you can add, bananas, pears, apples or dried figs….OMG can you imagine brown butter and bananas? Add some liquor and you can indulge in bananas foster breakfast style! Awesome!

So as I cranked out the loaves for Christmas gifts, I made some extras to freeze. After all winter is just starting and come those cold January mornings when you just want to lie in bed, I can grab a couple of slices of this, slather on my apple butter and curl up for hours.

Have fun experimenting, leave some comments, and let me know how your creative genius came out!

'Brown Butter Sage Walnut Bread
 
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This is a really wonderful savory bread that can be served with apple butter or peach butter! If you want, add pears, apples, or bananas for a wonderful addition
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Serves: 1 large loaf
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 4 tablespoons sliced fresh sage leaves
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 2½ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
  • Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 350.
  2. Grease and flour (or spray) a standard loaf pan.
  3. Toast the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat, then set them aside.
  4. Add the butter and sage to the skillet and cook until the butter browns - follow your nose, it should smell nutty and sagey and not at all scorched. Turn off the heat.
  5. In a mixer whisk the eggs and brown sugar together.
  6. Add in the oil and whisk that.
  7. Mix in the flour, soda, powder and salt.
  8. Stir in the browned butter, then fold walnuts. Its thick so don't worry.
  9. Scrape and spread into the loaf pan, sprinkle with the turbindo sugar, and into the oven for 35 minutes. Test for doneness, then cool a bit before you flip it out of the pan. Slice and eat!!!

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