Did I Pack My Toothbrush? Oh, and Clementines Pt. 2

Alright so I still need to wash my clothes so I can pack them, get all my cooking supplies organized, find my passport (I'm pretty sure I know where it is), and do just a hundred other things. But I need to share this recipe with you. Clemetine Olive Oil Cake. I got the idea from this great 24 hour cuban diner, Coppelia. They have a steamed olive oil cake with a salted brulee crust. That sounds digustingly good, right? It is. It is also six bucks for a tiny slice, which of course meant I seriously needed to find a recipe that at least came close to this cake. And I did! The secret: you bake the cake in a similar fashion as a cheesecake, in a water bath. It comes out creamy, dense, almost pudding-like.

Enjoy. I'll be back in three weeks with stories. One might involve me murdering a chicken.

CLEMENTINE OLIVE OIL CAKE
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

5-6 little clementines (or 3 normal oranges)

1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar


Scant 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt


2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil


1 3/4 cups (219 grams or 7 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour


1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder


1/4 teaspoon baking soda


1/4 teaspoon salt
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch cake pan and place a circle of parchment paper on the bottom. Grate zest from the clementines and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers or a fork, rub/mix ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar. 

Squeeze juice from about 4 clementines into a bowl; you’ll have a scant 1/3 cup. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3-3/4 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.

In another bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Pour batter into prepared pan. Take a roasting pan and place cake pan inside. Then fill the roasting pan with enough hot water to go about half an inch up the side of the cake pan. 

Bake cake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream if desired.