Recipe courtesy of Chef David Katz. www.panevino-napavalley.com

Serves 8

This beautiful, light cake is a relative to chiffon cake, but uses fragrant olive oil.

11⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
½ cup orange juice
1⁄3 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
powdered sugar, for dusting as a garnish

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Combine the flour, 2/3 cup of the sugar, the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, orange juice, oil, zest and vanilla at medium speed until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar on high speed until soft peaks form. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture, a little at a time.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 9-inch spring form pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Run a thin spatula around the side of the pan, remove the rim. Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the base of the pan. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

This cake stands alone beautifully as a tea cake (follow baking directions above), but we often bake the batter in individual silicone bomb molds, for a more elegant single serving.