AKA: Concussion Cake

What do you do when your feisty and soccer-obsessed kid is sent home with a concussion and can’t read, watch TV, or do anything that will halt the healing of his wounded brain? You research foods that help heal the brain and come up with a recipe for a cake that will taste great, be a healthy(-ish) recovery snack, and keep him busy baking. This cake is obviously delicious for anyone, concussed or not. It is filled with brain-boosting ingredients like blueberries, dark chocolate, walnuts, and olive oil. The primary recipe is based on one for the traditional Mediterranean yogurt olive oil cake, and I’ve adapted it to be a neutral base for our brain-boosting additions.

A note on measurements, I tend to use a cooking scale, which allows me to seamlessly switch between metric and US customary units (though I think in cups and teaspoons.) I’m providing conversions as best I can, but using metric on a scale will be more accurate. The measurements for the blueberries, chocolate and nuts are approximate, so feel free to add or subtract as it suits your tastes, or throw in other brain boosting ingredients like cranberries or even matcha tea!

Ingredients

175 g (¾ cup + 1 tbsp) olive oil

3 eggs

150 g (½ cup +2 tbsp) yogurt

225 g (1 ¾ cups) whole wheat flour

3 tbsp baking powder

175 g (4 tbsp) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use homemade vanilla using bourbon which gives it a richer flavor than vodka)

250 ml blueberries

250 ml coarsely chopped dark chocolate

200 ml chopped nuts, preferably walnuts and/or pecans

Preparation

Preheat oven to 180* C the fan on  (350* F), grease a 9 inch circular pan (if you are feeling ambitious, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.)

Mix the olive oil, eggs and yogurt in a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. Mix in flour, baking powder, and sugar until mixture is smooth and uniform.  Fold in the blueberries, chocolate, and nuts until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour into greased cake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and the flip out of the pan to cool completely. For extra beauty points, sift confectioner’s sugar over the top. Or just serve as is while still warm.