My Music Monday

I've decided to try a theme for June. New music is great and all, but time for a change. Some of this will be new for you folks.  I'm guessing. 

I'm going with 2025 Running Playlist. 

I cultivate new playlists for each running season. This is the first time that two songs haven't carried over - and had been on all my previous ones. But I try to change it up to keep me interested - which is a tall order, I might add. 

The tendency is to skew more towards the Rock genre, and usually male driven at that. It usually keeps a better pace. And I should say, I only use music on the treadmill or in races. Rarely in ourdoor training do I even bother with it. Still, I think it helps me both focus and keeps me distracted at the same time - just in different ways. 

For a while I've been trying to weave some R.E.M. into my playlist and it's been very hit or miss. I usually delete whatever track I'd chosen, but this last go-round I have a picked a winner. 

"Pretty Persuasion" from the band's second disk, Reckoning, and honestly, it's one of my favourite songs of theirs. Why it never occurred to me to include it earlier is beyond me, but it truly works. 

When it finally made its way through the rotation at the Glass City Half, I was passed a l-o-n-g stretch of huge speakers that were blaring something off Thriller, which drowned out half of the R.E.M song playing right in my ear. That said, I didn't really get to hear it while running until the Cleveland Half two weeks ago. And the song truly works for pacing. 

I always feel Mike Mills' backing vocals were undervalued by the listening public, but I think they truly made the band. 

Baking with Blobby

I guess I could just retitle the Baking segments as "Eating My Feelings".  I do that more with desserts than I do with meals. Not that I don't enjoy dinners too. 

Pure white sugar holds a special place in my food pyramid. Save having diabetes and loosing limbs due to it, I'm sure to just keep ingesting it as much as I damn well please. 

My last Baking post was an unfrosted cake, as is today's post. As there are eggs (oh yeah, and whole milk) in this, it's about as close to 'vegan' as I'm getting. There is no butter. In its place?  Olive Oil. 

Yes, this is called the Everyday Olive Oil Cake. 

It's easy to put together. Super easy. No mixed needed other than your whisking hand. Like my last cake it is also single layer. And there were suggestions on how to gussy it up in other versions, which I considered, but thought - let's do the basic to see if I even want to try different versions. 

But let's get to it. 

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups (150g) unbleached all-purpose flour 

1 cup (198g) granulated sugar 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda rounded 

1/2 teaspoon table salt 

2 large eggs 

1/2 cup (100g) extra-virgin olive oil* 

3/4 cup (170g) milk (whole preferred) or plant-based milk (like oat, soy, almond) 

zest of 1 orange 

1/4 cup (57g) orange juice 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

*Choose an olive oil that’s fresh-tasting and fruity, rather than assertively grassy or bitter.  (I honestly don't know how to do that. I used what we had in the pantry.)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center. 

Lightly grease an 8" round pan and line the bottom with a parchment round. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In a large mixing bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs and olive oil until emulsified; the mixture should look creamy and yellow. 

Whisk in the milk, orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla. 

While whisking, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet; continue to whisk until well combined and no lumps remain. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and springs back when gently pressed. 

Remove the cake from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack; allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Run an offset spatula around the edge of the cake, turn the cake out onto the rack, and allow it to cool completely. 

Cut into slices and serve with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a large dollop of whipped cream and berries, or on its own. 

Store any leftover olive oil cake well-wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days. The cake will become moister and more flavorful as it sits. 

This is a keeper. Easy to make. Moist. Tastes great. Simple, clean flavours. The orange isn't overpowering at all.  710 loved it. And it does taste better as it sits. 

I learned from the last cake to only use the confectioner sugar as you serve. If you do the entire cake, and are not using the entire cake, it eventually just absorbs into the cake. However, if you're serving this at a party - which is a perfect forum for this dessert - dust the entire thing. It looks good. 

I'd also do some of the variations of this going forward. 

Tips from our Bakers 

To use different flours: Swap out 1/4 cup (30g) of the all-purpose flour for 30g of any of the following: almond flour (about 1/3 cup), fine yellow cornmeal (about 3 tablespoons), white whole wheat flour (about 1/4 cup), or rye flour (about 5 tablespoons). 

To make a grapefruit or lemon olive oil cake: In place of orange, use an equivalent amount of zest and juice from a lemon or grapefruit. 

To make a chocolate- or nut-flecked olive oil cake: Add up to 1/2 cup (85g) finely chopped chocolate or toasted nuts (about 57g). 

To make a mini olive oil cake: Halve the recipe and bake it in a 6" round pan. Watch the bake time, as it will likely be closer to 25 to 30 minutes. 

To customize the flavor further, add extracts (like 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (blech), 1/2 teaspoon natural maple flavor, or 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia) and/or spices (like 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cardamom or ginger or a pinch of fennel or coriander).