Orange and Raisin Olive Oil Cake

Delayed gratification is critical......

This Turkish recipe comes from Canadian food celebrity Bonnie Stern via my friend Lynn. I would categorize it as a coffee cake or breakfast cake. I was excited by the recipe because of its similarity to my Italian lemony olive oil cake that was recently  featured on this blog. Unable to contain my unbridled enthusiasm for cake, I cut into this shortly after it came out of the oven. While certainly edible, the taste and texture were unremarkable. Five days later, we're still eating this large confection. Having mellowed over time, the flavor has improved dramatically and the texture remains dense and moist. I deem it a keeper.

Ingredients:

- 3 eggs
- 1½ cups sugar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp finely grated orange peel
- 1 cup yogurt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup raisins dusted with 1 tsp flour
- 2 tbsp coarse sugar

1. Beat eggs with sugar in a mixer until light. Beat in olive oil, vanilla and orange peel. Mix in yogurt.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Stir flour mixture into batter. Stir in raisins.
4. Spoon batter into the bottom of a buttered (or sprayed) nine-inch square pan or a tube pan. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake cake in a preheated 350F oven 45 to 55 minutes or until centre of cake springs back to the touch or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 185F. Cool on rack. Makes a big cake and a lot of servings.