Orange Olive Oil Cake w/Pine Nuts + Rosemary

I’m not sure how it happened, but over the year’s I’ve accumulated a few important birthday traditions. Writing that out makes it sound obscenely arrogant, but I promise you it’s not. Instead, these traditions are more like quiet little gestures, acknowledgements, intentions – things I do for myself – and I love each of them.

The first tradition is that I celebrate for as many days as I am turning. It’s a tradition that started when I turned 30, with 30 days of small celebrations because I had to go to the dentist that day which is NOT what I would have chosen to do. And I wanted to have some family time, some friend time, some big playtime in my then-Berkeley, California backyard…there simply wasn’t time for all of the ways I wanted to spend my birthday! So I spent a month. This year I have 45 days to spend and I’ve been really maxing them!

The second tradition is that my Vedic astrologer gives me a geolocation point and a specific time for me to arrive there to mark the new trip around the sun. One year it was Beaumont, Texas at 5:45am. Another year, it was near the Pont du Garde in Paris at 10:43am (I took Leo.) Yet another, it was 10:35am outside of Telluride, Colorado, and the following year it was 5:42pm in Zacatitos, Mexico. This year, it was 11:23am in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And I’m flying home as I type this to continue the 45 days of celebrating with the last of the traditions…

Each year, I also bake myself a birthday cake. It’s definitely not the only celebratory cake I eat, and it’s not loaded with any other deep meaning besides its what sounds really good to me, right now. In years past, I’ve made this, this, this, and this. And this year, I made myself/you….

This Orange Olive Oil Cake w/Pine Nuts + Rosemary

I have seen a few iterations of this cake floating through the kitchens of chefs I admire – this one from Dario Cecchini and a riff on THAT one by the very brilliant Aran Goyoaga more recently in her newsletter. The cake had my mouth watering from the moment I read about it; a beautiful cake, maximizing everything that these late winter months deliver and desire (the still growing rosemary, oranges fresh from California, rich and a tender, rich crumb.) There’s something about this one that gives “celebrations hiding in plain sight,” which seems to be the theme of this particular trip around the sun already. Lately, we’ve been reading a book with Leo called “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole,” in which two little boys start digging in their backyard for something “spectacular” and decide not to quit digging until they find it. They’re looking for something concrete of course, when the adventure of digging is in the digging…(that will be my 45th year for certain.)

This cake looks impressive enough on it’s own, with it’s towering golden sides, fragrant and glittery topping, and the tufts of rosemary and puffs of powdered sugar on top, not to mention the thick slices studded with candied oranges (I ordered these especially for this purpose – enough to make the cake again a couple of times!) and juicy golden raisins. If you aren’t into either of these things, you can certainly omit them but they are the spectacular little treats we’re digging for here, amidst a tender, airy olive oil crumb.

This cake sings to my Ayurvedic heart because – as I make it – it’s naturally gluten-free and vegan, which makes it a lighter digest dessert than one made with glutenous flour and milk. This high digestibility makes it a wonderful candidate to serve after a special meal where you’ve lingered and indulged, which is exactly the way I intend to serve it – to myself, and anyone else who fancies a birthday cake hiding in plain sight.

I add some recipe notes – be sure to peep them before you dive in, and enjoy this one for me and you!