When I visited Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, every single evening I made sure to order a sticky toffee pudding whenever it appeared on a restaurant’s menu. From my sister’s main haunt, The Cat & Fiddle, to other pubs and restaurants alike, I followed through each time and did so again I grabbed dinner with my sister and a couple of my friends one early evening.

Except joke’s on all of us, I’m not here to talk about sticky toffee pudding!

No, dear reader, I’m instead going to talk about the olive oil cake at Cara Restaurant, located inside the Cara Hotel. The space itself felt like a hidden alcove on the Mediterranean coast; airy with white linen curtains fluttering in the breeze, and a pool which no one used yet was fastidiously maintained.

We ordered every dessert on the menu after dinner to share amongst the four of us. And, if you’re raising an eyebrow at ordering every dessert offering a restaurant has to offer, do know that if you should ever dine out with me, there is a non-zero chance you will experience this with me.

In fact, my friend Melanie loves to recount a particularly memorable brunch we had together where the server asked if we wanted any appetizers to which I responded with, “we’ll take all of the pastry.”

But I digress—

The olive oil cake at Cara Restaurant was a memory. It took me back to being a child in the 90s and eagerly going to our local Jewel (a grocery store) with my mom so that I could pick up a coveted box of mini lemon poppyseed muffins. These were loved by every member in the family, but I was particularly annoying about selecting (and hoarding) muffins. I would examine every box at the bakery, checking to see which ones were the most fresh.

Sometimes, the staff would even let my sister and I sample the muffins, which we ate with glee.

Now, it may seem like an insult to equate the olive oil cake from Cara with grocery store lemon poppyseed muffins, but every single one of my friends who grew up in Illinois who had these specific little treasures will reminisce over how delicious they were.

To compare these two desserts is to speak of childhood and chasing a taste that always feels just out of reach.

The olive oil cake had the density of a lemon pound cake but felt substantially lighter due to using olive oil in lieu of butter. The lemon was fragrant and balanced by the sweet tartness of the strawberries before being rounded out with mellow whipped cream. It was a terrifyingly easy dessert to eat, and we all clambered for “just one more bite” before we decimated it.

The other dessert we ordered (including the sticky toffee pudding) were delicious, but all of us agreed the olive oil cake was the stand out of the night, and I can’t wait to go back and order it again and again, while gazing into the people-less pool.

Originally published on Instagram June 11th, 2022. It has since been edited for the web version.