Baker and author of Just Desserts Charlotte Ree is one of our go-to cake magicians.
In times of crisis you turn to baking and when there’s no flour on the supermarket shelves, you go flourless! So Charlotte has kindly shared her delicious flourless Lemon Olive Oil cake, which is not too sweet, suits all citrus and is just that little bit salty in the most wonderful way!
Ingredients
150 g hazelnut meal
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus extra to serve
pinch of sea salt
150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
200 g caster sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
icing sugar, sifted, for dusting
crème fraîche, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 20 cm springform tin with olive oil and line the base with baking paper.
In a small bowl, combine the hazelnut meal, bicarbonate of soda, lemon zest and sea salt.
Place the olive oil, caster sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with hand-held electric beaters on
high speed for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is pale and resembles thickened cream.
Reduce the speed to medium–low and add the vanilla, beating continuously. Once combined, add
the hazelnut mixture and stir gently with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40–45 minutes.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with a little extra lemon zest, then serve with crème fraîche.
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 2–3 days.
‘Just Desserts by Charlotte Ree, Published by Plum, RRP $29.99, Photography by Luisa Brimble, Styling by Lee Blaylock’
Follow Charlotte on Instagram here.
