The Brief Wondrous Life of Olive Oil Cake in NYC

(Tho not as brief as you think)

The popular olive oil cake with golden raisin marmellata from L’Artusi.

Olive oil cake is both trendish and ubiquitous these days. We simultaneously take it for granted and announce each new arrival as though it’s a novelty. It’s on dessert menus, topped with candied or roasted fruit, a dollop of fresh whipped cream or gelato a la mode, the dramatic finishing drizzle of the star ingredient. It’s at bakeries, the slices of golden loaf cake on display, some naked, some glazed, some tinted with pumpkin or chocolate. It’s in your oven, baking right now, probably perfumed with citrus and made with almond flour or polenta.  But do you know where it came from? I’m not talking about its Italian origins; I’m asking if you know when it was a novelty here in New York and we beheld it in wonder and amazement.