Hanukkah recipe: OMG! Yummy’s Olive Oil Marble Pound Cake - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Whether you want a non-fried, oil-based dessert for Hanukkah or a loaf cake to serve with tea, Beth Lee’s marble pound cake fits the bill. The recipe, featured in the San Jose OMG! Yummy blogger’s debut cookbook, “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook: 50 Traditional Recipes for Every Occasion” (Rockridge Press, $17), uses a half-cup of olive oil, which checks the miracle of Hanukkah box.

You marble the batter by spooning the regular batter and chocolate in alternating layers, then running a toothpick or knife in a zig zag pattern down the pan before baking.

Olive Oil Marble Pound Cake

Serves 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

Nonstick cooking spray

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons plus 1 cup granulated sugar, divided

2 tablespoons water

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs, room temperature

½ cup unsweetened almond milk, room temperature

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8½- by 4½-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust it with flour. (If you are using a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan, reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.)

In a medium bowl, stir together the cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons sugar, and the water to form a thick paste. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the remaining 1 cup sugar, the oil and vanilla for 2 to 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture and almond milk, starting and ending with the dry mixture and alternating between the two, until fully combined.

Remove about 1 cup batter and stir it into the bowl with the cocoa-powder paste mixture.

Spoon each batter in the prepared loaf pan in alternating layers. Once all the batter is in the pan, take a knife or toothpick and zig zag it down the pan, making about 6 strokes to “marbleize” the loaf. Don’t overdo it, or you’ll have a homogenous cake.

Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the pan cook on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and continue to cool to room temperature.

— From Beth Lee’s “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook: 50 Traditional Recipes for Every Occasion” (Rockridge Press, $17)