It all started with a conversation on rivercottage forum about "good v cheap olive oil" with someone called badbadger.
Comparing the merits of various olive oil reminded me about my grand dad's lovely "gateau mousse" made without any butter, but with olive oil and white wine instead.
My grand mother had always been the cook of the household. The sort that makes everything looks effortless to cook and super tasty. A real pro in disguise. After she died (carry on reading, it's no depressing story, I promise!), my grand-dad starting cooking and especially baking. He'd often come for lunch or dinner at the week end (walking the whole 500 yards from his house to ours). And bring either a flan aux oeufs or a "gateau mousse" (a "foam cake"). We called it like that because it was so light and fluffy, it was like foam really. But tastier.
Papi Jean has since left us, and I realised last week I didn't have the recipe of his famous gateau mousse anywhere. so when I went back home last week end, I was so pleased to discover it amongst loads of recipes my mum and dad keep in a thick yellow binder.
I had already tried Google for a recipe of "gateau mousse". Those 2 words didn't return much that was helpful. But since it's a cake made of olive oil instead of butter, I tried to google "olive oil+cake". Although I didn't find the right recipe, I came across a raspberry and lemon recipe on various French blogs, all from the same original recipe from Pierre Hermé, a "Grand Monsieur de la patisserie" . I'll wait for the raspberries to grow in the garden to attempt the second one, 
but still, here are both recipes:
Le gateau mousse de papi Jean
2 cups of caster sugar
1 cup of olive oil
1 cup of dry white wine
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites whisked into soft peaks
250g plain flour, sifted
2 tea spoon bicarbonate of soda
mix all the ingredients together except the egg whites. fold those into the mixture last and bake 15 minutes at 220 degres.
Raspberry, lemon and olive oil cake from "Mes desserts préférés" , Pierre Hermé:
245g plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice + finely grated zests of 2 lemons
100g unsalted butter, melted
185g olive oil
3 tablespoons milk
220g fresh raspberries
pre heat your oven at 180 degres.
Butter and lightly flour a cake tin
Work together the sugar and the lemon zests until the sugar is infused with the lemon
add the eggs and whisk for about 3 minutes until you get a fluffy and pale mixture
Add the milk then the dry ingredients and mix as least as possible
Add the lemon juice, then the warm melted butter and olive oil
pour 1/2 of the batter in the tin, sprinkle the raspberries on it then pour over the rest of the batter
Cook for 30 to 35 minutes until the acke is golden and the sides slightly move away from the sides of the tin
For more cake recipes, try here
For more ideas with raspberries, try here
a comment? a suggestion? ideas about what to cook for dinner? email me here
