This is a recipe, along with the accompanying video, where I take a Simple Vanilla Cake and transform it into an elegant multi-layer cake. It is not a butter cake, it is a cake where the fat is in liquid form (oil).

So you have a cake that is wonderfully moist and tender. Similar, I think, to the texture of a pound cake. For this cake I decided to fill and frost it with a tangy and flavorful Cream Cheese Frosting which nicely offsets the sweetness of the cake. Decorate the top of the cake with birthday candles, fresh berries, white or dark chocolate shavings, or even colorful candy sprinkles.

What I like about cakes containing oil, is their moist texture and how you can store the cake in the refrigerator and it doesn't become too firm. I also like how this Simple Vanilla Cake is easy to make. For flavoring I have added some grated lemon zest, but you could use orange zest or even lime zest. Zest is the outer skin of the citrus fruit.

When grating the zest be sure to first wash the fruit and only grate the yellow outer skin of the lemon, not the white pith underneath as it's quite bitter. Now, let's talk about what type of oil to use in this cake. While you can use any flavorless oil such as vegetable, canola, safflower, or corn oil, my preference is to use a light tasting extra virgin olive oil.

I really like how olive oil adds a depth of flavor to the cake. You can even use a lemon or orange flavored extra virgin olive oil which I particularly like. If you decide to use the flavored oil I would leave out the lemon zest called for in the recipe.

We will continue this class soon...

Arise Naija Team