During this festive holiday season, it seems like every dessert is chocolate. I don't have a problem with it necessarily, but give me some citrus in there somewhere.

So here is a lemon cake made with olive oil, don't let the description fool you, its just as rich and luscious as any chocolate filled dessert that you will be shoveling into your mouth this holiday season. Make this and shove away.

Olive oil/Lemon cake

Simple syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 of a vanilla bean, scrape out the insides and add all of these together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, making sure all of the sugar is dissolved. Add slices of lemon and set aside and let chill.

2 cups AP Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
4 Large eggs
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
3/4 cup Olive oil
3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Some powdered sugar
Some lemon juice*

Heat the oven to 350 degrees
Lightly oil a 10 inch round cake pan

In one bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, (for this I use my Kitchen Aide cuz it just makes life easier) using the whisk attachment, whisk the sugar and eggs and take a small break. Let the sugar and eggs do their magic and you'll see them double in volume. It really is a beautiful thing. Well to me it is but I have many, many, many issues.
Add the lemon juice, olive oil and vanilla extract and mixed just till combined.

Add the flour mixture to the eggs and gently fold in till its all mixed together and pretty. If you get lumps, give it a quick whisk but don't go crazy, you don't want to deflate the eggs.

Pour into the pan and bake for about 45 minutes, check with a toothpick and you know the drill, it comes out clean, its ready to come out of the oven. Let it chill and then wrap it up in saran wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour or over night, which ever you have time for.
With a wooden skewer, a toothpick, or anything like these and poke this cake like it has done something to you.
Then with a pastry brush, dip the brush in the simple syrup and brush over the cake, over and over again. Awe yeah. You don't have to use all of the simple syrup here, you figure out what works best for you, this is your cake after all.

*Take some of the powdered sugar, maybe about a cup. (I go by eye, cuz I'm good like that)
now add some lemon juice, you want to get it just thin enough to be able to pour over the cake. I prefer mine a little bit on the thick side cuz thats how I roll
Now if you want too, you can take some of those lemon slices in the simple syrup and make a pretty decoration. As you can see in the picture above, I quartered them and put them along the edge of the cake. Then I took them off. Cuz it was my cake and I was in charge, bitch