Olive oil cake

This is a micro post - a mere pre-cursor to another edition of Sofia's Kitchen, soon-to-be-posted.

My husband and I have just gotten into Scrubs - what's great about finding a show late is that you don't have to wait for each episode to come out. However, every tvshow-marathon has a price; the 7th season took up more of my time than expected and I had only one hour to whip something up to take to my grandmother.

It also distracted me from the fact that my house was practically bare - save for the essentials, but even then I was out of milk. So I wracked my brain and came up with an olive oil cake. A dozen searches later and I still hadn't found a recipe that was either quick or that didn't require a dozen eggs or more than one bowl. So I half-arsed it - I figured out a guideline based on the recipes and hoped for the best (or something edible at least).

What I got was probably something close to a tea cake - best eaten on the day it is made. It is only softly fruity with hints of lemon and orange and the nutty-fruitiness of the olive oil. As it isn't very sweet on its own, I ate it with yoghurt and grapes. For a last minute throw-together that takes less than an hour to bake and go, it wasn't half bad at all.

Last-minute Olive Oil Cake

3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup milk
1 lemon, zest only
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Lightly grease an 11 x 22cm loaf tin, and line the base and sides with baking paper. Beat the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the oil, orange juice, milk and lemon zest and beat until well combined. Add the combined, sifted flour and baking powder and slowly beat until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool for 5minutes and serve with poached fruit, yoghurt, tea - whatever takes your fancy.