Olive cake

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Several months ago I enjoyed a slice of olive cake at La Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Savory, not sweet, this loaf cake (4"x 4"x 12" brioche pan probably) was very moist, rich, slightly crumbly, contained oil-cured olives, red onion, Nieman Ranch ham, guyere, vermouth, and it's my sense that it was not yeast leavened. I haven't been back on days that they have been baking it, so I haven't been able to do a proper autopsy. Any ideas?

[helenas]

Margaret, this is my favorite subject! There are several different recipes:

one in the Wells' Paris cookbook, several in the Loomis' French Farm book,

and you can find tons of different recipes in french if you do a google search for

"cake aux olives".

My favorite recipe though is here; and i think it's similar to what you're looking for: - Provencal Olives ( scroll down to Cake Aux Olives).

Let me know if you need recipes from Wells or Loomis.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Helena, you are incredible! The featured recipe, Cake Aux Olives, sounds exactly like the Tartine product. Gotta go try it out. Thanks so much!

[Spoonful]

This is my favorite subject too!

Great find, thanks. Gotta get me some olives

Olive

[spqr]

I've been thinking about olive cake ever since this thread came out. Yesterday I visited an Italian import store, where I purchased some pancetta and some porchetta, and a bunch of cerisuolo (sp?) olives. I whipped up the olive cake using the recipe Helena provided last night and brought it into work this morning to share. Unfortunately, the Phillistines I work for don't permit aperatifs or cocktails on the job, even for food sampling events. But I did try a small slice. It is moist, as advertized, and the pancetta provides a bare and occasional hit of saltyness, but I couldn't distinguish the porchetta - even though it had been rolled in crushed red pepper flakes - and the variety of olives I used are too bland for this. Oil-cured would have provided more olive impact.

The only problem for me now is: do I sneak off for a three martini lunch in a little while so I can taste my olive cake in proper context, or do I wait another 7 hours before I get home to try it?

Have any of you made olive cake recently? If so, what was your experience with it?

[Double 0]

I've been thinking about olive cake ever since this thread came out. Yesterday I visited an Italian import store, where I purchased some pancetta and some porchetta, and a bunch of cerisuolo (sp?) olives. I whipped up the olive cake using the recipe Helena provided last night and brought it into work this morning to share. Unfortunately, the Phillistines I work for don't permit aperatifs or cocktails on the job, even for food sampling events. But I did try a small slice. It is moist, as advertized, and the pancetta provides a bare and occasional hit of saltyness, but I couldn't distinguish the porchetta - even though it had been rolled in crushed red pepper flakes - and the variety of olives I used are too bland for this. Oil-cured would have provided more olive impact.

The only problem for me now is: do I sneak off for a three martini lunch in a little while so I can taste my olive cake in proper context, or do I wait another 7 hours before I get home to try it?

Have any of you made olive cake recently? If so, what was your experience with it?

I made the cake today. I'm bringing it to a dinner party tonight . I made a few changes, out of necessity. Instead of the green olives I used a combo of oil cured and gaeta olives, I also used a very peppery evoo. I had to substitute half swiss (ementaller) and half parmasan.I shredded these very finely in a mini chopper. I baked the cake on the long side of the recommended time and got a loaf with a crispy top and moist sides. I'll report later after dinner.

[spqr]

Yes, thanks. I am looking forward to your report.

[Double 0]

I got mixed reviews on the olive cake. People who like strong tasting black olives loved it. Others thought it was too strong. I happen to like oil cured olives, so for me it wasn't too strong. I liked the consistancy and the cake sliced perfectly. I think the next time I make it I will use less poscutto, maybe 5oz instead of the 7 the recipe calls for. I also think that I will use a mixture of black and green olives. I also found some other recipes on the internet. One of them had alot of sauted onions in the dough. I'm going to make this one next and will let you know how it stacks up.

[malarkey]

I think I might make this this week for a soiree I'm going to thursday night. however, the substitution I'm thinking of would be pancetta instead of bacon. or does the dish really benefit from an occasional bite of smoky bacon?