My birthday was on Sunday. In the couple of weeks leading up to the big day, I scoured my memory bank to figure out when was the last time I had a birthday cake. I came up pretty empty handed, so I'm guessing it was somewhere way back in the single digit birthdays - i.e., a long dang time. To celebrate this somewhat monumental birthday occasion, I decided to bake myself a freakin' cake.

I also realized that it's been a while since I shared a new recipe with you folks, so I felt like I needed to make it up to you. Forgiveness cake, anyone?

Since we spent part of the weekend in Portland, getting all sugared up on Voodoo Dougnuts (more on that trip in a later post), I didn't want a sugar-laden cake. I've also never really been "into" frosting either. So, I turned to a classic Italian favorite that I'd never made before: olive oil cake.

I had zero luck finding an already-vegan recipe to use, so I took a few seconds and veganized the Olive Oil Citrus Cake recipe in . The cake is very simple - mostly flour, citrus zest and olive oil - and I knew I'd love it. I even put a candle on it, because that's what you do on birthday cakes!



For this job, I zested a Meyer lemon, a Minneola tangelo and a Rio Star red grapefruit - all organic, of course, and scrubbed of debris. The original recipe also calls for lemon oil, but our bottle has mysteriously vanished, so I used sweet orange oil instead and was plenty happy with the results.

Olive Oil Citrus Cake
Adapted from

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) unsifted cake flour (I used organic whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
3 Ener-G egg replacer eggs (4 1/2 tsp egg replacer and 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp water)
1 Tbsp sugar (for the pan) plus 1/2 cup for batter
Zest of 1 grapefruit, 1 orange and 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sweet orange oil (optional)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch x 2-inch round cake pan with olive oil and dust with 1 Tbsp sugar. (You CAN use flour in the pan if you prefer, but the sugar gives it a nice sweet crunch!)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. Then sift it again. Set aside.

In a large bowl and using a hand mixer, beat the egg replacer/water mixture, sugar and zests on high for 3-4 minutes or until thickened. Add vanilla and orange oil. Beat on medium-low speed and drizzle the olive oil into the batter, pouring slowly along the edge of the bowl. Add the flour and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. (It's going to look pretty thick, almost like brownie batter, but worry not!)

Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine actually went for about 32) or until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature before removing from the pan.

The original recipe pairs this cake with a simple glaze made from powdered sugar and grapefruit juice. Still wanting to ease off on the sugar factor, I opted to skip the glaze and instead went with a small schmear on my cake slice (about 2 tsp) of Chocolate #9, a thick gel made from organic agave and cocoa. It's rich and delicious, but because it's made without sugar, it's low on the glycemic index and won't lead to a sugar crash. We had already planned to freeze half the cake (you know, for later) so I didn't ice the whole thing. But you could. Go ahead. The most important part is that you eat the cake, with or without icing, because it's really yummy. I thought so, at least.