I like frosting…but just a little. And I like desserts with a lot of flavor but not necessarily very sweet. I’d seen variations on olive oil cakes before and thought they sounded interesting. I wanted to try it but I thought I needs at least some sweetness to it. With the lemon and the mascarpone, this totally does the trick!
Ingredients
Cake
· 1 cup flour
· ½ cup cornmeal
· 1 t baking powder
· ½ t baking soda
· ½ t salt
· 1 cup sugar
· ½ cup olive oil
· 4 oz (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese, brought to room temperature
· 3 eggs
· 1 ½ t vanilla
· 1 ½ T lemon juice
· 1 T lemon zest
Topping
· 4 oz (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese, brought to room temperature
· 1 T sugar
· 1 t vanilla
· 1 t lemon juice
Directions
Butter and flour and 8” or 9” pan (whichever you have – I have a 9”) and set that aside.In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put that to the side.
In a separate bowl whisk the sugar, olive oil, mascarpone cheese, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Take the oil and cheese mixture, pour that into the flour mixture and beat with your hand mixer until everything is well combined.
Grab the pan you buttered and floured and pour the batter into it. Drop it a couple times on the counter to smooth out the top and bake it at 350 for about a half hour, or until the cake has risen and is a nice golden color.
Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Once it’s cool it’s time to frost. Add all the topping ingredients (mascarpone cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice) into a bowl and mix with your hand mixer until everything is just combined. Frost the cake and chill until it’s ready to serve!
Serves about 8 people, unless you cut really big slices and then, well, less than 8 people.
Ugly Desserts 
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