OLIVE OIL CAKE NIGELLA RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Grease a 23cm/9in springform cake tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
• Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
• In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.
• Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about three minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
• Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almonds (or flour) mixture.
• Scrape down and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
• Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Steps:

• Put the whole clementines in a saucepan and cover them with water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20–30 minutes until the clementines are tender. Remove them and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut the fruit in half and, with the tip of a knife, remove and discard the pips. Put the skin and pulp in a food processor and blend to a paste.

  Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment. Whisk the eggs, lemon zest and caster sugar in a bowl. Add the olive oil and beat until light and well combined. Add the clementine paste and stir, then fold in the ground almonds and baking powder.

  Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for about 50 minutes or until well risen and golden. The cake should have slightly shrunken from the sides and be springy to the touch. Leave it to cool in the tin on a wire rack while you make the syrup.

  Warm the sugar and lemon juice in a small pan until the sugar has dissolved. Make lots of small holes all over the cake with a piece of uncooked spaghetti and drizzle over the lemon syrup. Let the cake cool completely in the tin, then turn it out on to a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream and orange segements if you like.