Ligurian Lemon Cake

Because of the warm weather I've been longing for some raspberries and I’ve been planning to make a lemon cake for some time now, so this Ligurian Lemon Cake by Pierre Hermé seemed perfect. It has been a while since I tried a Pierre Hermé recipe. His recipes are usually a bit complicated but this cake isn’t any harder to make than a cake mix! It’s a regular lemon cake that’s filled with raspberries. Its secret ingredient is olive oil, which distinguishes its taste from other lemon cakes. I like this recipe very much. The lemon cake itself is very tasty on its own, so really you don’t even have to fill it with raspberries, although the raspberries are a lovely touch. It’s so incredibly easy to make, I’m almost astonished it’s a Pierre Hermé recipe. Rating: 4 out of 5.

Ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons, very finely chopped
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
- 2/3 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pint fresh raspberries

Instructions:
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch round cake or springform pan, dust with flour, and tap out any excess.
- Sift flour and baking powder and reserve.
- Place sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a mixer and rub the ingredients together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy, and very aromatic. Fit the bowl into the mixer with the whisk attachment in place, add the eggs and beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
- Set the mixer on its lowest speed and beat in the milk. Add the sifted dry ingredients, beating only until they are incorporated, and then add the lemon juice, warm melted butter, and olive oil, again beating only until blended.
- Pour about one third of the batter into the prepared pan - it should be just enough batter to form a thin, even layer. Top with enough raspberries to cover the batter, then pour on the rest of the batter, using a rubber spatula to gently spread batter so that it runs down between the berries and just covers them. You’ll have a very thin layer of batter, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
- Bake the cake for 30 to 33 minutes (mine needed 40 minutes), or until it is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan; a cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately unmold it onto a cooling rack; invert so that cake is right side up and allow it cool to room temperature. Once cooled the cake is ready to serve or to decorate.


About a third of the lemon cake batter.

Filled it with some raspberries and then the rest of the cake batter.

Right out of the oven. The consistency of the cake is just like a cake mix; moist, light and fluffy.

Pierre Hermé suggests to top the cake with meringue, but I prefer whipped cream and raspberries.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!