3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 extra large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts
1/2 cup dried currants
Finely grated zest of 2 small oranges [about 1 1/2 tablespoons] mixed with 1 teaspoon sugar

Equipment needed:
a large tube pan, about 10 1/2 inches wide, preferably with a wide tube in the center, well-greased

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs.

Add sugar and beat until creamy (about 4 minutes).

Add vegetable oil and continue beating vigorously.

Add vanilla extract.

Add milk.

Add flour and mix very well.

Add baking powder.

Remove bowl from electric appliance stand.

Using a spatula, mix in the coarsely ground walnuts.

Using a spatula, mix in the dried currants.

Grate the orange rind; place the finely grated zest in a plate and using the tips of your fingertips mix the orange zest with 1 teaspoon sugar (Zest tends to get watery after awhile, so the fresher it is, the better it is).

Using a spatula, mix in the orange zest with the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter into a well-greased tube pan (There should be at least 3/4 of an inch empty at the top of the pan as the batter will rise substantially in the oven.).

Bake in a preheated 350 F. degrees oven until done -- about 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven.

Cool.

Like many home cooks I like to experiment and adapt traditional recipes. This particular cake recipe was inspired by traditional Southern Italian cakes which generally use vegetable oil rather than butter. Actually, in the first half of the 20th century, most home cooks used olive oil (Often the olive oil came from olive trees grown in their own vegetable gardens, or, if not their own, their neighbors!). Nowadays, modern-day Italians use all-purpose vegetable oil and/or butter. Yes, butter. In any case, even though I like the taste of butter, I don't like using it in cakes, not because it doesn't taste good (It certainly does) but because one has to melt it prior to using it. As I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen baking (I spend a lot of time there, but I don't like to spend a lot of time doing one thing!) I like to minimize the amount of time per item. I prefer to use vegetable oil, canola oil in particular, as it is quite tasteless, so it allows the other ingredients to dominate. Also, butter is a lot more expensive than is vegetable oil -- yet another reason to prefer using vegetable oil to butter. In any case, the recipe in this entry is very easy to do, and those who like the ingredients used, might like it. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

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