Lemon and thyme olive oil cake

If any cake tastes of the Mediterranean, it's this one: lemon, thyme and olive oil. Three things you'll find in any home in Tarragona.

Thyme might sound odd in something sweet. Try it once. It doesn't taste of stew or of grass: it gives the lemon a fresh, almost floral aroma, so every bite tastes of more than just lemon.

I make it with a mild extra virgin olive oil from arbequina olives, the variety grown round here. It gives a moist crumb that lasts for days, and the icing runs down the petals of the Bloom mould, picking out every detail.

Jump to the recipe

The trick is in the sugar

Before you mix anything, rub the sugar with the lemon zest and thyme between your fingertips. The sugar scrapes against the zest and the leaves and draws out their essential oils. In two minutes it turns damp, slightly yellow, and smells wonderful.

It's the step that turns a decent lemon cake into one that fills the whole kitchen with its scent while it bakes.

Which oil to use. A mild or fruity extra virgin, like arbequina. Avoid very peppery or bitter ones: in a cake you notice them far too much.

The recipe: Lemon and thyme olive oil cake

• Prep: 20 minutes
• Baking: 50 to 60 minutes
• Rest before turning out: 10 minutes
• Serves: 12 to 16
• Tin: 2.5 litres (Bloom or Clásico)

Ingredients

For the cake

• 360 g plain flour (3 cups)
• 4 g baking powder (1 tsp)
• 2.5 g bicarbonate of soda (½ tsp)
• 3 g fine salt (½ tsp)
• 300 g caster sugar (1 ½ cups)
• 2 tbsp lemon zest (from 2 or 3 lemons)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 180 ml mild extra virgin olive oil (¾ cup)
• 60 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (¼ cup)
• 5 ml vanilla extract (1 tsp)
• 240 g plain unsweetened yoghurt, Greek or regular

For the icing

• 120 g icing sugar (1 cup)
• 1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice
• A few fresh thyme leaves and a little zest to decorate

For the tin

• Softened butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour

Method

Before you start

1. Take your time with the tin. With a deeply patterned mould like the Bloom, this step decides the result. Brush the whole inside with softened butter, not melted, getting into every fold of the petals and around the central tube. Dust with the flour, turn the tin and tap out the excess upside down.
2. Preheat the oven. To 175 °C, top and bottom heat, no fan. Shelf in the lowest position and no other trays inside.

The batter

3. Scent the sugar. Put the 300 g of sugar, the zest and the thyme in a large bowl. Rub them together with your fingertips for a couple of minutes, until the sugar is damp, slightly yellow and very fragrant.
4. Whisk the eggs. Add the eggs to the sugar and whisk with an electric whisk for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture turns pale and doubles in volume. Slowly add the oil, lemon juice and vanilla, whisking just enough to combine.
5. The dry ingredients. In another bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
6. Combine gently. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternating with the yoghurt: a third of the flour, half the yoghurt, another third of the flour, the rest of the yoghurt and the last third of the flour. Do it on the lowest speed or with a spatula, and stop as soon as you can't see any flour.

Filling, baking and icing

7. Fill the tin. Pour the batter in slowly and always in the same spot: that way it pushes the air out and spreads through the pattern by itself. Tap the tin firmly on the worktop a couple of times, with a tea towel underneath, to settle the batter and knock out the bubbles. It will be about three-quarters full.
8. Bake. At 175 °C for 50 to 60 minutes. From 50 minutes, push a skewer into the centre: it's ready when it comes out completely clean.
9. Ten minutes, then turn it out. Leave the tin on a wire rack for exactly 10 minutes. Put the rack on top, flip it confidently and lift the tin straight up. Let it cool completely.
10. Ice it cold. Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice, a spoonful at a time, until you have a thick icing that falls in a ribbon. Pour it over the top of the cake and let it run down the folds. Finish with a few thyme leaves and a little zest.

Notes and tips

Zest only the yellow skin. The white pith is bitter. A fine rasp grater makes it easiest.

Dried thyme? Fresh is better. If you only have dried, use 1 teaspoon and rub it into the sugar in the same way.

Rosemary works too. Use half the amount, very finely chopped, because it's stronger than thyme.

Icing, always on a cold cake. On a warm cake it melts and soaks in instead of staying white and glossy.

Storage

• It keeps for 3 to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container. The icing holds up well.
• To freeze, do it before icing, in slices wrapped in cling film, for up to 3 months. Ice it once defrosted.

Which tin to use

This recipe is designed for a 2.5-litre tin. I mostly make it in the Bloom, because the icing settles in the petals, and also in the Clásico. It turns out just as well in the rest of our 2.5-litre moulds: Flow, Blaze, Plait, Twist, Gleam, Flare and Vortex.

In a smaller tin, only if you adjust the quantities. Made as written, the recipe would overflow the 2-litre Cascada and Amour and the 1.8-litre Espiral. To use them, multiply every ingredient by 0.8 for the 2-litre moulds and by 0.7 for the 1.8-litre one. Beat the eggs and weigh them: a large egg is about 55 grams out of its shell. And start checking the bake about 10 minutes earlier.

The rule that never fails, whatever the tin, is not to overfill it. In our guide to tin capacities and conversions you'll find the volume of each one and how to convert any recipe.

What I used

• The Bloom mould, 2.5 litres, in cast aluminium with a double non-stick coating. Its petals are perfect for icing.
• The set of baking trays with rack. The rack is where the cake spends its ten minutes before turning out, and where it cools afterwards, with air circulating underneath.
• An olive wood board or a teak board to bring it to the table and slice it in front of everyone.
• A pastry brush. If your tin has a few years behind it, have a look at how to look after the non-stick coating so it keeps releasing like the first day.

Frequently asked questions

Can you taste the olive oil in the cake? With a mild extra virgin, barely. It adds moisture and a fruity background that goes really well with lemon. With a very strong oil, you would notice it.

Can I use sunflower oil instead of olive oil? Yes, in the same amount. The texture is the same; what you lose is the Mediterranean touch.

Can I make it with dried thyme? Yes, but use just 1 teaspoon, because dried thyme is more concentrated. Rub it into the sugar just as you would fresh.

Why do the eggs need so much whisking? Because the air they trap is part of what makes the cake rise. If you under-whisk them, the crumb ends up denser and heavier.

Will it work in a 2-litre tin? Only if you adjust the quantities: multiply every ingredient by 0.8 and start checking 10 minutes earlier.