Olive Oil Cake — Blog

Hello, my friends.

After a four month break to recharge and reset, I’m back with regular Sunday morning (in Australia) emails straight to your inbox. If you’re not sure why you’re receiving this, I’m Catherine Greer, author of books including The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect, and you signed up for my weekly newsletter.

I have so many new thoughts and ideas to share with you!

Today, though, I just wanted to catch up and say that I’ve missed you. And I’m leaving you with this little question about your worries.

It’s always better to live high-vibe. Right? Right.

Enjoy your beautiful weekend. Have some fun, and be fun to live with!

Love, Catherine x

P.S. What you can expect ongoing…

So many of you are NEW here - hello, and welcome to all of you who’ve signed up in the last four months! I’ll be writing to you weekly with upbeat inspiration and hints and tips about wellness and happiness.
I’ll share new or old recipes I love - this one I can’t wait to try.
Little skills that look fun. I’ve always wanted to be able to do this. 🩷

Last week, I hit a bump of worry with one of my teens, so I did what mothers do: I stayed up half the night trying to sleep, woke up tired and tear-y, and hoped that everything would blow over with the new day.

It did.

But while my kid was out slaying dragons, I was at home working.

(For all you beautiful strangers who don’t know me very well yet: I’m an author and a copywriter, which means I write books for love and write copy for large corporates for my daily bread. Often I work from home and go to meetings in the city.)

That day, I wrote and walked from outside back inside. I worried about my son and I didn’t text. I tried to wait.

Then I noticed we had rosemary growing and a lemon in the fruit bowl, so I caved and made my favourite cake. Because what is better than a kitchen smelling of lemon and rosemary cake?

In my world, nothing says love like baking.

This cake takes away your worry. Imagine yourself combining the fresh rosemary, lemon zest and a little sugar in the bottom of a bowl. Imagine rolling it through your fingers until the sugar mixture is damp and fragrant.

That is love. Love smells like rosemary and lemon.

You’ll need a few things:

sugar (1 cup)
self-raising flour (2 cups)
fresh rosemary (2 tablespoons, chopped)
lemons (zest and juice of 2 is best)
Greek yogurt (1 cup)
olive oil (1 cup)
eggs (2)

If you have this on hand, let’s start. Line a pan with baking paper. Preheat your oven to 325F or 170C. In a bowl, mix the rosemary, lemon zest and sugar. Do this with your hands.

Inhale. Everything’s going to be okay.

Add eggs and beat until pale and thick. Use a whisk. It won’t take long.

Mix in the yogurt, lemon juice and olive oil.

Finally, sift in the flour. Gently fold it all together. Know in your heart that you are a good person. Pour the batter into the pan. It looks professional, like a cake in a cafe.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Cool in the pan.

Share with the people you love.

Enjoy your day, and love your age (and yourself). We’re all out here in the wilderness, doing the best we can.

Catherine x