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Shannon Swindle is executive pastry chef of Italian restaurants Funke in Beverly Hills and Felix in Venice, and he’s probably got a recipe or a hundred in his back pocket when it comes to simple yet impressive desserts. This olive oil cake is one of them: lush, comforting and not too sweet. He’s tweaked the recipe over the years to come up with just the right amount of olive oil and crème fraîche (or sour cream) for the type of cake you can have with your coffee for breakfast or serve to guests for a special occasion. He bakes his cake in a large 10-inch cake pan that’s 3 inches high. You also could use 8- by 2-inch pans; just mind the baking time. Start checking it for doneness (the top will be firm) at 40 minutes.

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times.

Laurie Ochoa is general manager of Food at the Los Angeles Times.

Stephanie Breijo is a reporter for the Food section and the author of its weekly news column. Previously, she served as the restaurants and bars editor for Time Out Los Angeles, and prior to that, the award-winning food editor of Richmond magazine in Richmond, Va. Born and primarily raised in Los Angeles, she believes L.A. to be the finest food city in the country and might be biased on that count but doesn’t believe she’s wrong.

Brandon Ly is a senior art director for the Food section at the Los Angeles Times. He started his career at DoorDash and led design teams at the innovation firm Ideo in Shanghai and San Francisco. Ly is a graduate of Stanford University’s product design program and founder of the Black Bean Grocery.

Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.