Olive oil cake

Set the oven to 400F.

Whip the eggs and sugar together until pale and foamy.

Grate the lemon zest, moving the grater across the lemon to avoid the white pith; add the zest.

Add a pinch of salt, the milk, the Marsala and the olive oil; mix.

Combine the flour and baking powder; add dry into wet and whisk thoroughly so there are no clumps.

Coat the inside of the tube pan with a thin layer of olive oil and pour in the batter.

Bake 50 minutes at 400F in the upper third of the oven.

Cool about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

First attempt came out overdone, dry and crumbly, and stuck to the tube insert.

Second attempt: set the springform base and tube insert in a nonstick pan, coat with olive oil, add the batter and bake with an oven thermometer confirming 400F.

Check doneness by internal temperature, 200 to 210F; this attempt was done about 13 minutes early and still stuck to the insert.

Third attempt: same batter in a regular cake pan; check at 35 to 40 minutes rather than the 50 in the recipe.

At 34 minutes, internal temperature over 200F and a toothpick comes out clean; rest 10 minutes before unmolding.