For the past 10 or so years, I've become a huge fan of herbs in sweet preparations. Things like bourbon lemonade with rosemary, honey lavender ice cream, and mango-cilantro anything. When it comes to desserts, it's no secret that cake reigns supreme. Herby cakes have always fascinated me, as it appears many folks don't specifically love them and they aren't easy to find at markets and bakeries. I thought I could fulfill this fascination with my own creativity, but I had a slight problem: I don't actually understand cakes.
I have made countless cakes. Between all the birthdays and holidays in my family, I know my way around a mixer and oven. What I don't understand is the actual chemistry. Things like gluten, acidity, chains of proteins, achieving a cake with an open yet structurally sound "crumb" that also manages to be the dreaded m-word... I always use someone else's recipe instead of trying to pretend I know about all of the inner workings of cakes. Saying I'm a cake baker feels like calling myself a scientist after making a papier-mâché volcano.
As much as I've read about cakes and watched videos about cakes, I don't think I could ever tell you how to make a cake from start to finish without having to reference a recipe. It's not like chicken parm where I have an idea of the general composition (breaded chicken, tomato sauce, parmesan) and how to produce a result (fry it, assemble it, broil it). The structure of cake-making from scratch is a bit less forgiving, and one misstep makes it difficult to salvage. Making a cake recipe from scratch requires complicated science and endless resources to do numerous tests. So, no, I have never actually written a cake recipe.
However, what I have done is adapt recipes, and that's what I have done here today. This is an adaptation of Melissa D'Arabian's Orange Olive Oil Cake, but with my own added flair: steeped basil in the olive oil, more salt and leavening, swapped some of the white sugar for brown, and doubled the orange (which in turn meant I needed more flour). To up the ante even further, I created an orange butter glaze, which was admittedly the happiest of accidents, as my intention was to make a stiff buttercream that frankly would have been far too unilateral and canceled out the orange flavor. The finishing touch was Martha Stewart's Sugared Basil technique, to make it look gourmet.
The result is a complexly sweet and tender cake with a subtle hint of fresh basil to make this cake truly feel like summer. This franken-cake managed to be one of my favorite confections of recent. Maybe one day I'll gain enough knowledge and confidence to try out making cakes on my own terms, but for now, I'm okay with taking the things that people have already painstakingly tested and finding out ways to make them match my tastes, like a scientist in a laboratory.
With beakers, bunsen burners, and basil,
~c.j.
ORANGE BASIL OLIVE OIL CAKE
PREP TIME: 5-10 mins
ACTIVE COOKING: 30 mins
INACTIVE COOKING: 25-30 mins
YIELD: 12 slices
INGREDIENTS
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves
2 c. (240 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk (reserve egg white for sugared basil leaves, recipe below)
1/2 c. (100 g) white sugar
1/4 c. (50 g) dark brown sugar
2 oranges, zest and juice (2 tbsp zest, 6 tbsp juice)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
cooking spray
DIRECTIONS
In small sauce pan, add olive oil and basil leaves. Place over low heat, stirring occasionally, allowing basil to flavor the oil, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, discard basil leaves, and allow to cool. Meanwhile, get to work on the rest of the cake.
Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. In a separate large bowl, add eggs, egg yolk, white sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk vigorously to combine until mixture is ribbony. While whisking, slowly add reserved cooled olive oil to egg mixture. Then, add orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla extract, whisking again to combine until just homogenous. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients in three separate additions until cake batter is just combined. Then, mix vigorously about 2 minutes to promote gluten development. Cake batter will still be rather loose, that's okay!
Transfer cake batter to a 9-inch cake pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray, bottom lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Cover with orange butter glaze and decorate with sugared basil leaves, recipes below. Serve in slices.
ORANGE BUTTER GLAZE
PREP TIME: 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (1/4 lb, 4 oz, 8 tbsp, 1/2 c, 113 g... they're all the same)
1 orange, zest and juice (1 tbsp zest, 3 tbsp juice)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 c. (360 g) powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, orange zest, orange juice, salt, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Slowly and progressively beat in the powdered sugar until all powdered sugar is fully incorporated. The consistency should be looser than typical buttercream and not hold a stiff peak. Don't worry - this is what you want to get a smooth, even coating.
To decorate: Place the cake on a wire rack. Pour most of the orange butter glaze on top of the center of the cake and allow gravity to the do the work. You may need to push some of the glaze toward the edges, but the glaze will naturally fall and coat the sides of the cake. Patch up any bare spots with reserved glaze by spreading with a knife or spoon. Allow glaze to firm up a few minutes before decorating with sugared basil leaves and serving.
SUGARED BASIL LEAVES
PREP TIME: 5-10 minutes
INACTIVE COOKING: 1 hr
YIELD: 12 leaves
INGREDIENTS
1 large egg white
12 large fresh basil leaves
white sugar, for dipping (about 1/4 c., give or take)
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, whisk the egg white until it becomes slightly foamy. This may take a little longer than you think, but don't go too far. You're not trying to get it anywhere near "whipped egg whites" like you would for meringue.
Dip a basil leaf in the egg white, allowing excess to drip, then sprinkle both sides with white sugar (you can also use a pastry brush to brush the egg white onto the leaves). Place on a wire rack to dry, and repeat with the other leaves. Allow to dry at room temperature least one hour (don't put these in the fridge). Decorate cake with dried leaves.
Note: The most time-efficient way to make this cake in less than an hour and a half is to do the following...
Make the cake and put it in the oven.
While cake is baking in the oven, make the sugared basil leaves (the full time for the cake to bake, cool, and be glazed is enough time to let the leaves dry).
Once cake is cooled, make the orange butter glaze and decorate immediately with glaze and sugared basil.