Olive Oil Cake

extra virgin olive oil cake

Best olive oil cake recipe

Orange olive oil cake

That’s both simple and sublime, olive oil, a splash of dessert wine, and an entire orange add up to a cake that’s perfect for all reasons and all seasons. A group of people sit around a table, admiring a very large olive oil cake.

Whether it’s delicate and grassy or bold and fruity, olive oil can make a gorgeous addition to dessert. This olive oil cake keeps it simple, which allows the subtle flavors of good olive oil to shine through. Altogether, the cake isn’t overly sweet or rich, which means you can enjoy it for breakfast without risking a sugar crash. It’s a cake, you might say, for all reasons and all seasons.

Ingredients:

  • 300 grams sugar, divided
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 small orange
  • 150 milliliters extra virgin olive oil
  • 70 milliliters Vin Santo
  • 70 milliliters water
  • 350 grams flour
  • 16 grams baking powder
  • 30 grams raisins

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch cake pan
  • Using an electric mixer, beat 250 grams sugar and eggs until well combined
  • Chop up the whole orange, including the peel and pulp, into small pieces, being careful to remove the seeds. Place in a large bowl
  • In the same bowl, add the olive oil, Vin Santo, and water and combine. Add to the egg and sugar mixture and beat until combined
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder
  • Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, incorporating a little at a time just until combined
  • Pour the mixture into the cake pan, sprinkle the raisins across the surface and then use an offset spatula to level the surface, covering the raisins with batter so they don’t burn

Chocolate olive oil cake

This recipe is for those whose life and diet are not so unfairly constrained. It is slightly heavier with the almonds, so if you want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds / 1½ cups almond meal with 125g plain flour / ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour.

Made with the almonds, it has more of supper-party pudding feel about it, with some raspberries or some such on the side, as well as a dollop of mascarpone or ice cream.

Ingredients:

Yields: 8-12 slices

  • 150 millilitres extra virgin olive oil
  • 50 grams good-quality cocoa powder
  • 125 millilitres boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
  • 150 grams ground almonds
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 200 grams caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs

Instructions:

  • Preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment
  • Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
  • In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt
  • Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream
  • Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture
  • Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it
  • Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin
  • Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a puddingThis cake can be made ahead, store in an airtight container in a cool place for 2-3 days or freeze for up to 3 months, wrapped in a double layer of clingfilm, followed by a layer of foil. Unwrap and defrost at room temperature for about 3 hours.