I wrote this recipe when I was submitting a creative essay to a food writing journal. I was writing a comedic retelling of how I discovered my extremely annoying food allergies while becoming a cannabis baker. The story goes that I developed an oral allergy syndrome, and basically had to determine what fruits I could consume and which would send me to the hospital in order to safely navigate the kitchen. This is not a scientific method I encourage anybody to do for any reason!…thought it helped that I was high during a lot of these trials 😅This persimmon olive oil cake was a personal labor or love, as I wanted to make something that as many dietarily-restricted folks could enjoy as possible: no eggs, no dairy, can be switched with gluten-free flour, and all the fruits are baked (for any other oral allergy folks out there).
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Servings: 12-16
- Infused Base: magical olive oil
INGREDIENTS
- 16oz persimmons
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup magical olive oil
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
- 2 tsp agave
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice from 1/2 a lemon
METHOD
- In a high speed blender or food processor, add 16oz of ripe persimmon and ¼ cup of water and blend until smooth. Remove from the blender and set aside. (note: you may not use all of this pulp)
- Line a 8×8 square pan/9-inch round baking pan with parchment paper with 1 inch of overhang on two sides. Preheat oven to 350℉.
- In a medium bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together 2 cups of the persimmon puree, apple sauce, brown sugar, olive oil, agave, and salt until well combined.
- Place sifter over mixing bowl and sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Whisk until combined.
- Pour the batter into the baking pan. Smooth batter with offset spatula. Top with sliced persimmon.
- Place pan on the middle rack and bake until browned on the top and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.
- Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Lift the cake out of the pan. Cut into 9 squares.
