Lemon Cake with Raspberries and Pistachios

For the last several weeks, I’ve been on a Great British Bake-Off kick. To be fair, this is never exactly *not* the case; it’s one of my favorite shows, and I watch it pretty frequently. Bake-Off is everything I used to love about Top Chef, but with a fraction of the interpersonal drama and, I’d estimate, about 85% more cake. I especially like to play it as pleasant background accompaniment when I’m puttering around the apartment, working on this or that little project. (Hot tip: nothing will make you feel more delightfully elderly than cross-stitching to the soothing sound of a tent full of British accents. A steaming cup of tea completes the tableau perfectly.)

A couple weeks ago, when it was still too cold to be outside in Minneapolis, no matter what the calendar said, I set myself up on the couch with a season of Bake-Off and my old recipe binder, which was in desperate need of a revamp. Back when I was first getting interested in cooking, my dad typed up a bunch of his go-to recipes, printed them out, and presented them to me in a binder. Over the years, I’ve added my own recipes and clippings, and the binder had gotten so overstuffed that I’d long since stopped trying to add new recipes in any sort of order; there were printouts and magazine pages and index cards poking out every which way, and being somewhat averse to disorganization–but also evidently unwilling to do anything about it–I had mostly been avoiding the binder entirely for the last few years. I finally decided that this could no longer stand. (Also, this being the 14th month of a global pandemic, I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to occupy my time while stuck indoors.)

A few hours and many binder tabs later, I found myself with a beautifully organized abundance of recipes, many of which I had forgotten ever existed. Naturally, a significant portion of my magazine clippings were cake recipes, and this one, with its springy flavor palette, jumped out at me right away. My Bake-Off binge had really put me in the cake-baking mood, so I got right to it. This is a super simple cake to put together; you don’t even have to remember to soften butter, since all the shortening comes from olive oil.

Have we talked about how much I love olive oil cakes? I just think there’s something so delicious about the hint of vegetal flavor you get when you bake with olive oil, and combining that with jammy raspberries and lemon is just perfect. I also love the way this finished cake looks; with the raspberries nestled into the surface of the cake, it reminds me a bit of a clafoutis. And because you scatter sugar over the batter just before baking, the cake looks almost glittery– that is, until you douse it in lemon syrup.

Speaking of which: this is a rare cake that gets better after a day or so. When we first sliced into it, the texture felt similar to baked cornbread, and I was so disappointed. However, the next day, all that syrup had worked its way through the rest of the cake, and it was perfect. If you can stand it, I’d say let the cake rest for a full day before you cut into it. Best served with a cup of tea, and your favorite baking show.

Lemon Cake with Raspberries and Pistachios
from Bon Appetit

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
1¼ cups plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon plus ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup olive oil
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 4 oz.)
3 tablespoons chopped unsalted, raw pistachios

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9” diameter cake pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With mixer running, add vanilla and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, then gradually add oil, mixing just until combined. Fold in lemon zest and dry ingredients.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Scatter berries over cake, then pistachios and 2 Tbsp. sugar. Bake cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 45–55 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring remaining ¼ cup sugar and remaining ¼ cup lemon juice to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar; let lemon syrup cool.

Transfer hot cake (still in pan) to a wire rack and immediately brush with all of the lemon syrup. Let cake cool completely in pan.