Lemon olive oil cake with candied oranges.

Yesterday was Father's Day, which is also another great excuse to bake a cake.

My dad loves desserts (I'm definitely my father's daughter!) but he is trying to stay away from anything too sweet and heavy, which was why I decided to make an olive oil cake instead of baking something too buttery that he couldn't have too much of.

The candied oranges were just the perfect hint of sweetness to complement the cake. The cake was moist with the subtle tones of lemony zest with that occasional crunchiness from the toasted nuts. I was really glad that my dad really enjoyed the cake. We finished almost the entire 8 inch cake within that day!

This cake would be perfect for anyone who is looking for something sweet, something slightly healthier and something delicious.




For the lemon olive oil cake

I've adapted the recipe from here as a cake base, but I've reduced all the ingredients by 1/4 and made an 8 inch cake with it.

I've also added in one cup of crushed mixed nuts and toasted them in the oven before adding into the batter at the last step to lend an extra crunch to the cake.

For the candied oranges

5 tbsp of granulated sugar
2 tbsp of honey
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1.5 cups of water
1 orange, sliced into thin slices

In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepot, combine sugar, water, honey, and cinnamon.  Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Once syrup has come to a boil, add orange slices.

Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes until orange slices are soaked up and the syrup is reduced.  Remove orange slices and transfer to baking paper lined sheet tray in a single layer and allow to cool. Keep the rest of the syrup.

To assemble

Once the cake is cooled, pour enough syrup to cover the cake, sprinkler the toasted nuts over the cake and lay the orange slices over them.