Olive Oil Lemon Cake

Delicious and extremely moist. No need for frosting. The cake is best the day it's made, while it retains its crusty exterior, but it's still good for a few days.

Note: I use a 10-inch round pan, but any shape pan of similar volume is fine.

INGREDIENTS

butter & flour for pan
1 c. flour
zest of 1 lemon
5 large egg yolks
³/4 c. sugar
juice of 1 lemon
³/4 cup olive oil
4 large egg whites
¹/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. additional sugar for crust

PRE-HEAT OVEN TO 350ºF

Butter & flour pan (see note above). Stir together zest and flour in a small bowl. In medium bowl, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar., but keep whites at soft peak stage. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until it forms a yellow ribbon. While beating yolks, slowly pour in olive oil, as if to make a mayonnaise. Stir in lemon juice. Fold flour mixture into yolk mixture, then fold in egg white mixture in 3 stages. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth to an even thickness. Sprinkle surface with remaining 2 Tbsp sugar. Bake until puffed and golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 15-20 minutes (longer if in a smaller pan). Cool cake in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool. May be served slightly warm or at room temperature.