Tacle Mandarin Olive Oil Cake with Candied Tacle Mandarins by Mary Leonardi-Cattolica Sansen

Adapted from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark

Tacle Mandarins (you’ll need 4 for the cake and a dozen or more for the candied mandarins)
1 cup sugar
Plain Greek yogurt
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups Manitoba flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil preferably a mild one from Liguria

Preheat oven to 160C/350F
In a large bowl, zest 3 of the mandarins. Combine with the sugar rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingers until completely distributed.

Supreme 3 mandarins by cutting off the top and bottom, then cutting away the skin and the white pith around the fruit. Then inserting the knife between the skin of each section and the flesh, cut the flesh away from the skins dropping the flesh into a bowl. break up the pieces of fruit. Set aside.

Halve the remaining Mandarin and juice so that you have about 1/4 cup of juice. Add yogurt to the juice until you have 2/3 cup of liquid. Add to the sugar mixture and whisk well. Add the eggs, and once again whisk well to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour baking powder, baking soda and salt to combine. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then, using a rubber spoon or spatula, fold the oil into the mixture a little at a time until combined. Gently fold in the mandarin pieces.

Scrape the mixture into a loaf pan and bake until a skewer comes out clean, 45-55 minutes.

Allow to completely cool before serving with whipped cream and candied mandarin sections if desired.

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