Here's a classic, easy to make olive oil cake that's light but chocolatey enough to feel like a special hug for a stressful time.
Ingredients:
150 ml olive oil (plus a little more for greasing)
50 grams organic cocoa powder
1 heaped teaspoon instant coffee powder
125 ml boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon plain flour
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
200 grams brown sugar
4 medium eggs (60-70g each)
Directions:
Preheat your fan oven to 150°C. Grease a 23 cm springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking paper. Dust with a little flour, and shake out the excess.
Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl.
Add the teaspoon of coffee granules to the boiling water, stir well.
Pour the hot coffee into the sifted cocoa, and whisk until you have a smooth, paste.
Pour in the vanilla extract, and put aside to cool.
In separate bowl, sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt and set aside.
In a deep bowl, place the sugar, olive oil and eggs together, and beat vigorously with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes until you have a thickened cream.
Turn the speed down and pour in chocolate mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in, add the flour mix a spoonful at a time.
Scrape down, and stir with a spatula, then pour batter into the greased and floured tin.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes up clean.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then turn it out of the tin to cool completely or eat while still warm with ice cream or thickened cream.