Hazelnut, Ginger and Olive Oil Cake

The hazelnut, ginger and olive oil cake is not a typical French teacake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. But ingredients like hazelnut, ginger, polenta and olive oil, are likely to take us on an unfamiliar journey. A journey I excitedly look forward to. There is very little all-purpose flour (18% of all flours). Therefore, the cake can be easily adapted for gluten-free baking. I expect the cake to be light, considering olive oil is making up 50% of the total fat. Furthermore, polenta imparts texture and heft. Finally, ginger is the high-note ingredient giving the cake zip, just as Dorie says it would.

Instead of outlining the recipe, I made a video to document the process of mixing all the ingredients into a thick batter. This recipe is uncomplicated making it a worthwhile project to help develop my video skills.

Don’t skip the ginger, the high-note ingredient

Whisk all the dry ingredients (hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, polenta or corn meal, baking powder and salt) in a small bowl. Grate fresh ginger using a Microplane and set aside. Combine unsalted butter, melted and cooled, and olive oil in another bowl. In a mixer, the eggs, at room temperature, are whipped with sugar until their color lightens. (I reduced sugar by 25%.) Next, add the ginger, dry ingredients and then the olive oil-butter mixture in the mixer. The final batter is thick and grainy from the hazelnut and polenta. I transferred the batter into three mini loaf pans and baked them in a 325°F oven for about 35-40 minutes.

The hazelnut, ginger and olive oil cake is moist, light and nutty. The ginger comes through in a subtle way. The cake tastes better the next day as the ginger flavor brightens. This is definitely a weekend cake I’ll make again.