Portuguese Orange-Olive Oil Cake

Oh my. I've fallen in love with this very simple yet intricate, rich and somehow light cake. Normally I mess around with a recipe and make it my own, but this one is straight from David Leite's new cookbook: "The New Portuguese Table".

You could dress up this cake with a simple powdered sugar and orange juice frosting for the final touch to a dinner party or just sprinkle it with powdered sugar and serve it for breakfast. The recipe suggests that you bake the cake and let it sit overnight and I agree. It just gets better as it sits.

Ingredients:
Nonstick baking spray with flour
4 to 5 large navel oranges
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
5 large eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil (an extra light olive oil works well for this)
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Preparation
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven, remove any racks above, and crank up the heat to 350°F (175°C). Coat a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan with baking spray and set aside.

2. Finely grate the zest of 3 of the oranges, then squeeze 4 of them. You should have 1 1/2 cups of juice; if not, squeeze the 5th orange. Set aside.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs on medium-high speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the granulated sugar and continue beating until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and oil, starting and ending with the flour, and beat until just a few wisps of flour remain. Pour in the orange juice and zest and whirl for a few seconds to bring the batter together.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1 1/4 hours. If the top is browning too much as the cake bakes, cover lightly with foil. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.

6. Turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely, then place it in a covered cake stand and let it sit overnight. Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

Tips
Make sure to use a light-colored Bundt pan. A dark one will turn out a cake that sticks and is unpleasantly brown.
Since this cake only gets better with age, don’t even think about taking a bite until the day after you make it, or even the day after that.