The Other Fat

I know, it's the holiday season and you're already eating half your weight in Christmas cookies, but maybe you should put down those butter saturated monsters and chow down on some heart healthy olive oil cake. Oh you heard me.

Olive oil is actually a lot healthier than butter. Per tablespoon, olive oil is cholesterol free and contains only 2 grams of saturated fat (the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol), no trans fats, 2 grams of polyunsaturated fats, and 10 grams of monounsaturated fats (unsaturated fats help lower your blood cholesterol). Butter, on the other hand, is composed entirely of saturated fat with the added "bonus" of 31mg of cholesterol.

The FDA recommends replacing 2 tablespoons of your usual fats with olive oil every day, and it surprisingly easy to sub olive oil in for butter when baking. Just do a 1 for 1 swap. As long as you're not creaming the butter (like for frosting) or cutting in cold butter (like for biscuits) you can replace all of the butter with olive oil. The only advantage butter has over oil is that it can solidify, which is why it makes such a great biscuit. The cold butter melts in the oven, creating pockets of air. Olive oil can't do that. But it does make a super moist and rich cake, and you can find flavored oils to really add something special to your recipes, or even use other oils like walnut or hazelnut oil.



Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1¼ cups sugar
Zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
1½ cups of lemon infused olive oil
⅔ cup whole milk
⅓ cup brandy
⅓ cup fresh orange juice (from about 1 medium orange)

Preheat the oven to 325˚ and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until combined; add the lemon zest, olive oil, milk, brandy and orange juice and whisk again until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake the cake, turning halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let the cake cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the loaf and invert it onto the rack and let cool completely.

Serves 8.