Olive oil cake with flat peaches and wild plums {gluten free}

Every summer, an old friend of my parents brings a a tin drum of extra virgin olive oil home from Corfu. It is simply the most delicious, vividly green olive oil I have ever tasted. It is too special to do anything with other than pour into a shallow dish, sprinkle with flakey sea salt and dip chunks of bread into.

The same is not true of every olive oil however. Lighter olive oil varieties have a delicate flavour that marries well with sweeter ingredients, such as fruits and honeys, making them perfect for baking with. Jamie's Italian have developed a handy guide to help you chose the right olive oil for your recipe.

Light olive oils and stone fruit are a match made in heaven. The soft fruits of Southern Europe are celebrated in this recipe alongside delicious light olive oil from Italy. This cake is also gluten and dairy free, and - being packed as it is with ripe summer fruits - uses only a tiny amount of sugar for sweetness.

 THE INGREDIENTS

100g light olive oil

75g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon

200g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

2 flat white peaches

100g wild plums

red and white currants (optional)

THE RECIPE

Heat the oven to 170°C, and line a 7" cake tin with baking paper. Slice the peaches into half moon pieces and half the wild plums, discarding the stones. Set aside.

Place the oil sugar, eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat for 5-6 minutes until the mixture is pale and frothy. Add the lemon zest, and mix through.

In a separate bowl, sieve the sound almonds, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine, then add to the wet mixture, and mix until just combined. Pour the mixture into the lined tin, and level the surface. Top with the sliced peaches and halved plums. Scatter the currants over, if using. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes, covering with foil for the last 10 minutes if the fruit starts to catch. Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing. 

This post was written in affiliation with Jamie's Italian, but all views are - as always - entirely my own.

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OLIVE OIL POLENTA CAKE WITH PEACHES {DAIRY AND GLUTEN FREE}

A belated Happy Easter! I hope you were all able to enjoy the sunny long weekend. The weather is divine and it really does feel like Spring has finally sprung.

Easter often gets overlooked as a holiday in the UK, with children preoccupied by the chocolate, and adults (myself included) enjoying the double bank holiday. Fear not, I'm not about to launch into an attack on modern values - that would be very hypocritical from the girl eating a white chocolate egg as she types.

Rather, it seems a shame that the familial, season celebrations that this holiday used to encompass seem to have been forgotten. Easter marks the end of winter, new life and a certain circularity which isn't captured by other traditional celebrations. If nothing else, Easter should be an opportunity to rest up, take stock and spend time with the people you love.

Now, enough of the sentimentality. This recipe is perfect for those of us who, just maybe, overdid it a little of the sweet stuff this weekend. A health tonic it is not, but this cake is gluten and dairy free, and can be whipped up in less than an hour. Peaches, while not strictly in season just yet, are one of my favourite foods and work perfectly with the sweet, gooey centre of the cake. Any baked fruit would do - plumbs, pears and apricots all work beautifully too.

  THE INGREDIENTS

100ml olive oil

75g caster sugar

125g ground almonds

75g polenta 

1 tsp baking powder (use gluten free if needed)

2 eggs

1 lemon, zested

peaches

2-3 peaches

honey

salt

THE RECIPE

Begin with the peaches. Preheat your oven to 180C, then slice the peaches into 8 pieces each. Arrange in a dish that is lightly greased with oil, and drizzle with honey and a sprinkling of salt. Bake until soft - this will be around 30 minutes, depending on how ripe your fruit is.

For the cake, line a 7" tin with baking parchment, and lightly oil the sides. Mix together the oil and sugar until the mixture is foamy and pale. Beat in the eggs.

Separately, combine the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder and lemon zest. Add this to the oil mixture, and beat until well-mixed and pale. Pour into your prepared tin, and bake for 25-30 minutes at the same temperature as the peaches. The cake is done when it has the slightest of wobbles in the middle when shaken, and has a pale crust on the top.

Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for ten minutes, before carefully transferring to a wire rake. Serve the cake warm or cold piled high with peaches, and with some crème fraiche (or dairy-free alternative) if desired. 

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