A full plated-dessert / pastry-shop style recipe built around those four components: citrus olive oil cake, vanilla whip, cherry jam, and salty vanilla buttercream.
Yield: 1 × 20 cm / 8-inch cake, about 10–12 portions
Ingredients
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- 8 g baking powder
- 2 g baking soda
- 2 g fine salt
- 3 large eggs (150 g)
- 170 g granulated sugar
- Zest of 2 oranges
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 120 g extra-virgin olive oil
- 100 g whole milk
- 35 g fresh orange juice
- 15 g fresh lemon juice
- 5 g vanilla extract
Method
- Heat oven to 175°C conventional / 165°C fan.
- Grease and line a 20 cm cake tin with parchment.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
- In another bowl, rub the citrus zest into the sugar with your fingers until very fragrant.
- Add eggs and whisk for 2–3 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking.
- Add milk, orange juice, lemon juice and vanilla.
- Fold in the dry ingredients just until no flour remains.
- Pour into the tin and bake 35–45 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out and cool completely.
Chef’s tip: Use a fruity but not aggressively peppery olive oil. The citrus should remain the dominant flavor.
Cherry Jam
Ingredients
- 400 g pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
- 120 g granulated sugar
- 25 g lemon juice
- 4 g lemon zest
- 3 g pectin NH
- 20 g sugar, reserved for the pectin
- 1 g fine salt
- 5 g vanilla extract
Method
- Combine cherries, 120 g sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt in a saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat until the cherries soften and release their juices.
- Mix the pectin NH with the remaining 20 g sugar.
- Whisk the sugar/pectin mixture into the hot cherries.
- Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil for about 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Transfer to a shallow container and cool completely.
You want a thick, spoonable jam, not a runny sauce.
If you don’t have pectin NH: use about 8 g cornstarch mixed with 15 g cold water, add it to the simmering cherries, and cook for 1–2 minutes. The texture will be softer.
Vanilla Whip
This is a lightly sweetened vanilla cream to balance the richer buttercream.
Ingredients
- 300 g heavy cream, cold
- 35 g mascarpone
- 35 g icing sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 2 g vanilla extract
- 1 small pinch fine salt
Method
- Put cold cream, mascarpone, icing sugar, vanilla seeds, vanilla extract and salt into a chilled bowl.
- Whip on medium speed until soft-medium peaks form.
- Stop immediately when it holds its shape but is still silky.
Don’t overwhip — you want it spoonable and cloud-like.
Salty Vanilla Buttercream
For this dessert I recommend a Swiss meringue buttercream. It’s much lighter and less sweet than American buttercream.
Ingredients
- 120 g egg whites
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 250 g unsalted butter, soft but cool
- 1 vanilla bean
- 8 g vanilla extract
- 2 g fine sea salt
Method
- Put egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl.
- Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water.
- Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 72°C.
- Transfer to a stand mixer.
- Whip on high speed until you have a thick, glossy meringue and the bowl is completely cool.
- Add the butter gradually, a piece at a time.
- Continue mixing until the buttercream becomes smooth and emulsified.
- Add vanilla seeds, vanilla extract and salt.
- Beat another 1–2 minutes.
Important
If the buttercream looks curdled after adding the butter, keep mixing. It will usually come together.
If it becomes soupy, the meringue was too warm — chill the bowl for 10–15 minutes and continue whipping.
Citrus Syrup
This is optional but highly recommended. It keeps the cake intensely moist.
Ingredients
- 60 g fresh orange juice
- 40 g sugar
- 15 g lemon juice
- 1 strip orange zest
- 1 strip lemon zest
Method
- Combine everything in a saucepan.
- Bring to a simmer.
- Cook for 1 minute.
- Remove the zest.
- Cool slightly.
Brush the syrup onto the warm cake immediately after baking.
Assembly
For a polished restaurant-style presentation:
Option 1 — Layered cake
- Once completely cool, trim the top of the cake if necessary.
- Cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers.
- Brush each layer lightly with citrus syrup.
- Pipe a thin layer of salty vanilla buttercream around the edge of the bottom layer to create a dam.
- Spread 120–150 g cherry jam inside.
- Add a layer of vanilla whip.
- Place the second cake layer on top.
- Give the entire cake a very thin coat of buttercream.
- Chill for 20–30 minutes.
- Finish with a smooth or rustic layer of salty vanilla buttercream.
Plated Version
For a more refined dessert, I would not fully frost the cake.
Cut the olive oil cake into neat wedges or rectangles.
On each plate:
- 1 slice citrus olive oil cake
- 1 generous spoonful of cherry jam
- 1 quenelle or dollop of vanilla whip
- 1–2 small quenelles/dots of salty vanilla buttercream
- A little citrus zest
- A few fresh cherries, if available
- Tiny pinch of flaky sea salt
- Optional: toasted pistachios or almond crumble
Flavor balance
The intended progression is:
Bright citrus → fruity cherry acidity → creamy vanilla → salty buttery finish.
The key is not making every component too sweet. Keep the cake moderately sweet, make the cherry jam distinctly tart, keep the vanilla whip barely sweet, and let the salted buttercream provide the rich final note.
Suggested garnish
For the best version, I’d add toasted pistachio + fresh orange zest + a few flakes of sea salt. The pistachio gives the dessert crunch without competing with the citrus/cherry/vanilla combination.
