olive oil orange chiffon cake

Here I go craving cake once again when I very well know that I'm supposed to start eating lighter after all the rich holiday food :-) But on second thought, the addition of olive oil instead of butter and all the goodness of freshly squeezed oranges, actually made me feel less guilty about baking and eating this cake!

I've been waiting for the opportunity to make it since I saw it posted by Zoe Bakes as Chiffon Cake with a Tuscan Twist sometime ago. Having a few oranges left in the fridge, I wanted to take the orange flavor to the next level so I used two oranges instead of just one for the zest. I also added orange flower water instead of vanilla. We don't mind the strong flavor of olive oil so I used a combination of extra virgin and a lighter olive oil. Substituting cake flour for the all purpose flour made the cake extra light, spongy and as my husband said, like angel food cake. It's one of the best chiffon cakes I've ever tasted and now one of our favorites. For a future variation, I may try to make it with limes and I'm excited to find out how that will turn out. In the meantime, thanks to Zoe Bakes for the inspiration!

 For the recipe...

OLIVE OIL CHIFFON CAKE 

(adapted from Zoe Bakes ~ Chiffon Cake with a Tuscan Twist ~ check her post for more tips)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

For the cake batter, in a large mixing bowl, sift together:

2 cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

Make a well in the center of the cake mix, add the following then set aside:

6 eggyolks (6 eggs separated ~ eggwhites go into another mixing bowl)

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

zest of 2 oranges

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup light olive oil

1 teaspoon orange flowe water (or vanilla)

In another mixing bowl, add 6 eggwhites (room temperature) then beat with electric mixer and gradually add 3/4 cup sugar until soft peaks form. Continue beating for a few more minutes until stiff glossy peaks form. Set aside while mixing the cake batter. Mix well until batter becomes lighter in color. Fold beaten eggwhites into the cake batter until evenly blended. Transfer to a lined 10" tube pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until top of cake springs back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and invert pan on the counter. Cool for about 30 minutes before taking the cake out of the pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.