This is a lovely, light, tasty unusual cake that’s great with tea. Sometime I’m going to try making it substituting honey for part of the sugar… I think that would be even more tasty. The recipe is based on one from Epicurious, with a few changes.

3/4 cup olive oil (extra-virgin if desired), plus additional for greasing pan
5 large eggs, separated, reserving 1 white for another use
3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 large lemon
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon of salt (used in two halves)
pinch of cream of tartar

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Take a loaf pan and grease it lightly with olive oil (spray oil is great for this). Then line it with parchment paper (it’s fine to just rip off a big chunk of paper and leave it hanging out of the pan) and grease the side of the paper facing the cake as well.

3. Combine egg yolks and olive oil in a medium mixing bowl. Beat them together until they’re smooth and well combined.

4. Zest the large lemon. If you’re using a microplane zester, you can add the zest directly to the egg yolks and olive oil; if you’re using a zester that produces long strips of zest then mince the zest before adding it. Then squeeze the juice from the lemon into the mix, being careful not to add any seeds to it (wrapping the lemon in cheesecloth, or squeezing the juice into a separate bowl first are both effective ways to do this). (I’m very fond of this microplane zester).

5. Mince the rosemary leaves and add them to the mixture. Be sure they’re fresh! Dried rosemary will be both stronger and not as good-tasting.

6. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the mix. Beat it in until the resulting mixture is smooth.

7. Add the flour, cornmeal and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the top of the mixture. Gently mix this in by hand - do not use a power mixer. If you overmix the flour, the cake will be tough.

8. Now take the 4 egg whites you reserved, add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the cream of tartar, and beat the whites until foamy (this is a great place to use an electric mixer). Make sure that the bowl you’re using and the mixer blades are clean and completely free of fat (so if you were using this mixer a moment ago to beat the eggs - make sure yo’ve thoroughly cleaned it first). If there’s any fat present, the egg whites will not achieve the consistency you’ll need.

9. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar to the egg whites as you continue to beat them. You want to beat them long enought that they form stiff peaks. Don’t over beat them. And use them as soon as they’re ready.

10. Gently mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the flour/egg/oil mixture. Then take 1/3 of it and fold it in, using gentle repetitive folding motions. Repeat with the last third.

11. Put the batter in the greased, lined loaf pan. Sprinkle remaining 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar on top. Bake for approximately 45 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come out dry; if it doesn’t, bake a few minutes longer. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, gently remove from the pan, and let cool to room temperature before serving.

Makes roughly 8 servings.

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