Chocolate Olive Oil (Mayo) Cake

This is the last post in the  four-week Healthy New Year promotion that Virtual Potluck is doing in conjunction with California Olive Ranch and Bob's Red Mill. Hard to believe it's over ... and I'm going out with a big recipe - DESSERT! CHOCOLATE!!!

Yes, dessert with olive oil. And you're going to love it.

Just like every other week, I paired a whole grain from Bob's Red Mill with with healthy olive oil from California Olive Ranch. This week, the combo was whole wheat pastry flour and Everyday Fresh California extra virgin olive oil

And as usual, I'll be giving away the same olive oil and grain combo that I'm working with. Sweet, huh?

Before I launch into the recipe, I've got to ask - have you ever done an olive oil tasting? I mean, a comparison of oils? Side-by-side?

I'm betting that most people buy one olive oil at a time, use it until it's gone, then buy another one. Maybe a favorite brand, or maybe what's on sale. But how many people have ever bought an array of olive oils and compared them. I highly recommend doing it.

One of the best ways to taste olive oil is to simply dip bread into the oil and taste. Some oils are sharper, some are more fruity. Some taste more like olives, and some are peppery. Some are smooth. Some are mild.

And none of them are wrong. It all depends on what you're looking for. An olive oil that is perfect on salad might not be the one you prefer for drizzling over vegetables. And an olive oil you like for finishing dishes might not be the one you like to cook with. So you might want to have several different oils on hand. I do. Several ... plus a few extra.

And now we have a recipe. You might have heard about olive oil cakes. Maybe you've heard of mayonnaise cakes. This one combines the ideas.

This cake starts with a home made olive oil mayonnaise. Well, it's not exactly a home made mayonnaise, because it doesn't include the typical lemon and salt and mustard that you might find in a more typical mayonnaise. But it's thick and rich and would be very tasty slathered on a sandwich, or as the beginning component of a salad dressing, or over some fish, if you wanted to make some extra mayo.

But keep in mind that the mayonnaise includes raw egg yolks, so if you're squeamish or you have health issues, skip the extra mayo as a condiment, and just make enough for cake. It gets cooked when you bake the cake, so it's no different than adding eggs to a regular cake.

Chocolate Cake (with home made olive oil mayo)

2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Everyday Fresh California olive oil
2 cups Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a Bundt pan with baking spray (or you can make cupcakes or bake in a 9x13 baking pan.)

Put the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until the yolks are light. This is really important - if you don't whisk the yolks enough, the oil won't incorporate properly.

Add the oil a little bit at a time, whisking to combine it with the yolks. At first, add just a teaspoon at a time. As the mixture thickens, you can add a little more with each addition, but make sure all the oil is incorporated before you add more.

By the time you have added all the oil, you should have a thick and stable mixture. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and sugar. whisk to combine and break up any lumps.

Add the water and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add the egg/oil mixture and stir to incorporate it completely. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean - about 30 minutes.

Let the cake cool for 5 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting. If you've used a decorative bundt pan, you can simply sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar. I used a poured ganache over the cake, but you can use any frosting you like.

To enter the giveaway (Closed) the winner is Rachel!

For your mandatory entry, visit either the Bob's Red Mill or California Olive Ranch Facebook page and retrieve the current week's Virtual Potluck code word. Use that code word in a sentence in your comment here.

For an extra entry: Follow Bob's Red Mill, California Olive Ranch, and Virtual Potluck on Twitter, and tweet a link to the contest using the #virtualpotluck hashtag. Then comment here again, telling me that you've tweeted..

For some good karma (not an extra entry) I'd love it if you'd like Cookistry on Facebook. If you already follow, I appreciate it!

More Blogs, More Ways to Win: Get additional entries in each week's giveaways by visiting our host blog where you'll find a complete list of the other participating Virtual Potluck Bloggers. You could win there, too! So let's do the math on this one. Twelve bloggers, 4 weeks - that's 48 recipes and 48 chances to win something. Not a bad deal, hmmmm?

One more added bonus! If you buy California Olive Ranch oil from their online store, you can get a 10% discount by entering coupon code BLOGFRIENDS at checkout.

Contest begins when this posts and ends at midnight, mountain time, on Sunday, January 29. Open to US residents only.

Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch supplied us with the grains and olive oils to work with and will be shipping the product to the winners.

Did you miss the last three posts? Check out:
Mini flatbreads with hummus and a warm olive salad
Whole grain and olive oil muffins 
Rice-i-Noa

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