aunt Ida's pound cake

Aunt Ida used butter to make a memorable, super rich and velvety cake and it's just as good with olive oil. Eat a slice as is, serve it with some fruit preserves and lightly whipped cream, toast a piece for breakfast. 

makes 1 tube pan, 2 large loaf pans or 3 smaller loaf pans

1 cup (250ml) extra virgin olive oil 

3 cups (600g) sugar
seeds from 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise and scraped with the back of a knife

3 cups flour (450g)                    

9 eggs
 
Oil and flour the baking pans, and line with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan.
In an electric mixer, mix olive oil, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add the eggs 3 at a time with 1 cup of flour until they are all incorporated, mix well after each addition.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 325F/175C for 60-65 minutes (80 minutes for the tube pan) until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool in pan.