Greedily, Blissfully, Peacefully / Goulûment, Voluptueusement, Paisiblement

I wanted to call each and every one of you to tell you about this cake the minute I ate it. It was that good.

We baked it when my husband’s nieces, who now I just call my nieces, my sisters, my dear sisters, were here. The house was warm with their laughter, their helping hands in the kitchen, their midnight chitchat in bed and their little quarrels. Oh how I miss their chitchat with me in the kitchen and even their quarrels! They reminded me of my older sister and I.

I love having people over. I love seeing my guest room pleased and bright and being used for its actual purpose and not what was and is now a room where ironing table, a few days old folded laundry and mismatched baggage cohabit. I love to see my daughter playing and chasing her cousins, while being able to scream only one syllable of their names: “Sha!” “Meen!”

I loved our obstinacy to have dinners on the deck under pouring rain, laughing out loud at our “moist” salad. I loved our dinners on the deck under hungry mosquitoes, spraying and itching in pain. I loved our afternoons run to the near by supermarket to buy ice cream. I loved our expressions when we had our first tastes of Durian and then the second and third, and the look on our faces when we drove back home with this stinky fruit in the trunk of our car.
I drove you crazy with my persistence to stop you, even my hubby, from eating while standing up (you know it stresses me out)
I drove you crazy with my fake Pad Thai and your uncle with his charred-pseudo-grilled- shrimp. Remember?

I remember. I remember how happy I was to have you in my house, in my kitchen. I remember how we enjoyed going to the backyard to pick black raspberries and to make this cake together, which I chose to make, you agreed to help and we all loved to eat greedily, blissfully, peacefully, sitting on the countertop. I remember how sad I was to drop you at the airport and how hard it was to say goodbye and to let you go, my dear sisters.

I was drawn by this cake more than any other cake in Jamie Oliver cookbook mainly because the use of olive oil in the batter intrigued me. I’ve heard about this odd combination before but never had the courage to give it a go. What a waste of years! All my life I’ve been dipping bread in olive oil, which isn’t a bad thing either, when I could have used it to make this cake. This is pure genius. The olive oil gives richness and moisture and most importantly depth of flavor to the cake that no other vegetable or canola oil or even butter would have given. The crumb is light and the berries are just drenched in this lovely aroma of citrus and olive oil. The cake can be whipped up in ten minutes without even using a stand mixer. Weeks later and I still have the taste of this lovely combination in my mouth. Still have the lovely voices of my sisters in my heart.

Nada’s Cake

Recipe: Adapetd from Jamie’s Italy
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder (This is the one I use all the time)
- A good pinch of sea salt
- Zest of 2 lemons, grated
- Zest of 2 oranges, grated
- 6 oz fresh black raspberries or blueberries or red sweet grapes such as Muscat or fragola
- A bit of butter to grease the pan

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter a 9-inch pan and line the base with waxed paper. Set aside.
Either by hand or in a the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes, then add the butter, olive oil, milk, lemon and orange zest and vanilla. Mix well, then mix in the flour, baking powder and salt until everything is thoroughly blended. Set aside for 10 minutes for the flour to absorb the liquid.

Stir about a quarter of the berries into the batter, pour into your prepared cake pan, and scatter the rest over the top. Bake the cake for 45- 55 minutes, or until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife along the sides of the pan to turn it out.

The cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped, for up to four days. It is even better on the following day.

Gâteau Nada

In Francais Please: adaptée de Jamie’s Italy
- 4 gros oeufs, a temperature ambiante
- 270g de sucre en poudre
- 200g de beurre, fondu
- 125ml d’huile d’olive extra vierge
- 200ml de lait
- 1 c.c d’extrait de vanille
- 360g de farine, tamisée
- 1 ½ c.c de levure chimique
- Une bonne pincée de sel marin
- Le zeste de deuz citrons
- Le zeste de deux oranges
- 400g de framboises noires, de myrtilles, ou de petits raisins type Muscat
- Une noisette de beurre pour le moule

Préchauffer votre four a 160C. Beurrer génereusement un moule à gâteau de 22cm de diametre et garnir le fond de papier sulfurisé, puis mettre de côté.
Avec un fouet ou à l’aide d’un mixeur, battre les oeufs avec le sucre jusqu’à ce que le mélange devienne épais et d’une couleur jaune pale, environ 3 minutes. Ajouter le beurre fondu, le lait, l’huile d’olive, les zestes et la vanille. Bien mélanger puis ajouter la farine tamisée, la levure chimique et le sel et incorporer jusqu’à obtenir un mélange homogene. Ne pas trop mélanger. Laisser reposer 10 minutes afin que la farine absorbe un peu du liquide.

Incorporer le quart des fruits à la pate, verser dans le moule préparé et mettre le reste des fruits sur le gateau. Faire cuire 45-55 minutes, ou jusqu’à ce que la surface soit d’une belle couleur dorée et qu’un cure-dent inséré en ressort propre.

Laisser le gâteau refroidir dans son moule sur une grille patissiere pendant 10 minutes, puis passer un couteau autour des bords du moule et démouler.

Ce gâteau se conserve à temperature ambiante, couvert de film plastique, jusqu’à quatre jours. Il est d’ailleurs meilleur le lendemain de sa cuisson.