Yemi Adelekan is a food writer and blogger who was a semi-finalist in the 2022 series of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition.

Yemi writes for the Stray Ferret about her love of the area’s food and shares cooking tips.

World Baking Day has been observed on the third Sunday in May since 2012, but there is no record of the person who came up with this wonderful idea. This year it fell on Sunday, May 17.

The original and noble intent of the day was for people to make and give away a homemade cake, but the day has since evolved into baking and giving away all kinds of baked goods from biscuits, cakes to bread. I didn’t realise I had missed World Baking Day until I saw a post from a friend with pictures of the bread she baked to celebrate the day.

I wanted to bake and share my own creation, but I was thinking of a strawberry-themed bake when I came across a green cake from my friend Lola, based on an ingredient I have never considered using in a cake. The key ingredient is watercress, which has a peppery taste but together with olive oil makes an incredible cake.

Lola entered the cake for the 2026 Watercress Festival; it had a stunning green colour and it was adorned with fresh watercress leaves. Lola is not new to creating olive oil-based recipes, as she is part of the duo behind Two&One olive oil, along with her husband, Ben.

Lola’s family, for the past five generations, have grown olives in Spain since 1887, and the harvested olives through three seasons create three stunning varieties of olive oil.

The verde harvest is crafted from perfectly and vibrantly green olives before they are ripe creating a fresh and clean olive oil with an emerald green colour. The olive oil notes are avocado, nuts and rosemary with a peppery, aromatic finish, making it perfect for drizzling over steamed vegetables, pizza, pasta, tomatoes and breads.

The envero harvest starts at the beginning of November when the olives are starting to lose their unripe notes and changing colour from green to light red, pink and purple, which indicates olive maturity. The envero is perfect for finishing dishes and baking cakes.

The negra, all-rounder, is great for cooking, baking and pan-frying; it’s from olives harvested in December, when most of the olive trees are fully ripe and laden with delicious fruits. The negra is a flavoursome and intense olive oil with a pleasant and lingering finish.

Olive oil is great for creating moist cakes and anyone can make a decent oil-based cake.

Here is Lola’s recipe for this amazing cake.

Ingredients

For the cake:

65g watercress

135g negra harvest olive oil

160g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

190g self-raising flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

1 tsp envero harvest olive oil

250g icing sugar

200g cream cheese (at room temperature)

watercress leaves (to decorate)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170ºC and prepare a lined 20cm round tin with a coat of negra harvest olive oil and a dusting of plain flour.

To make the cake, chop the watercress until very fine – ideally do this in a blender. Put it in a mixing bowl and add the sugar, eggs, olive oil and vanilla extract, and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Gently fold in the flour, try not to over stir at this point.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 40-50 minutes until a cake-tester comes out clean.

Set the cake aside to rest for 5-10 minutes before removing it from the tin. Leave on a cooling rack until cold.

To make the frosting, lightly beat the icing sugar, olive oil and the cream cheese until evenly mixed.

Spread a thick layer of cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake and decorate it with watercress leave and flowers, or garden flowers.

If, like me, you missed the World Baking Day, this is your chance to hero an unusual ingredient in your bake and create something visually beautiful and nutritious with olive oil. I elevated mine to a dessert by creating a layered slice, topped with raspberries.