One of the most attractive aspects of making a cake with oil rather than butter is the way it expedites the mixing process: There’s no waiting for butter to come to room temperature and then beating it with sugar before you even start to add the rest of the ingredients. The batter is ready to go into the oven in 5 minutes flat, and the cake comes out just 40 minutes later.
With many oil-based cakes, you simply whisk the dry ingredients in one bowl, whisk the wet ingredients in another, and then combine the contents of the two bowls. The dry ingredients were all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt, and the wet ingredients were eggs, milk, and olive oil. Also on the list: sugar and lemon zest.
