Holiday Baking with Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil

With the holidays now fast approaching, we will all be thinking about those delicious holiday treats.   Most are extremely sweet, full of sugar and also full of fat.   For many people, they often look for baking alternatives to help control the amounts of sugar and fat in their desserts.

Olive oil has many health benefits.    According to the Food and Drug Administration, consuming about two tablespoons of olive oil a day may reduce your risk of heart disease.   The greatest benefit comes by substituting olive oil for saturated fats rather than just adding more olive oil to a diet.    Source: Food and Drug Administration, http://www.fda.gov/newsevent/newsroom/pressannoucement/2004/ucm108368.htm

In many recipes, even baked goods, olive oil can be used as a substitute for butter, margarine, or other oils like corn or sunflower oil.   Olive oil can even be used to grease a pan.  Using three-quarters of  a teaspoon of olive oil for every one teaspoon of butter or margarine cuts the fat in a recipe. 

Bertolli's Extra Light Tasting is a mild, light tasting olive oil that does not overpower delicate foods.   This makes it great for baking.   The "light" refers to its mild, light flavor.   The oil has been filtered to remove any strong taste, making it an ideal substitute for butter or vegetable oil for baking.  

I recently had the opportunity to test Bertolli's Extra Light Tasting Olive oil in a delicious recipe by Chef Fabio Viviani.  Chef Fabio was Bravo's Top Chef Season 5's "Fan Favorite"  and is serving as Bertolli's brand ambassador.  He is known for his expertise in Italian and Mediterranean cooking and creates gourmet recipes that are healthy and easy to prepare.

The recipe I tested was a Classic Olive Oil Cake with Blueberries.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cups Bertolli's Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil, divided
2 containers of blueberries
juice from 1 lemon (about 3 tbsp)
1 tsp. grated lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Spray a 13x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.  Beat eggs with 1 1/4 cups sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium high speed until eggs are pale and thick, about 5 minutes.   Slowly beat in milk.  Slowly add flour blended with baking powder and mix just until blended.  Add 1 cup Bertolli Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil and beat just until blended.  Turn into prepared pan.  Bake in center of oven 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes clean.  Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely.

Meanwhile, for blueberry sauce, combine blueberries, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, remaining 1/4 cup Bertolli Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil and lemon juice in 2 quart sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until blueberries start to burst.  Remove from heat, stir in lemon peel.  Let cool to room temperature.  Serve blueberry sauce with cake.

This cake is absolutely delicious! It is a nice finish to a meal.   This cake is easy to prepare and I can see it becoming one of my go to recipes.     I think this cake fits well into any season.   I am thinking the next time that I prepare it, I would like to experiment with a more seasonally inspired sauce.

If you are interested in finding more recipes using Olive Oil, visit the Bertolli website.   There is a great selections of recipes ranging from appetizers to dessert.   


disclosure:  I received a sample for the purpose of this review.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  All opinions expressed in this post are my own.