Citrus Olive Oil Cake
Serves 8-10
90 minutes —
Intermediate —
If you’ve never had olive oil cake, think of a lighter, crumblier pound cake, but still incredibly moist, and with crispy edges. The reason we didn’t call this an “Orange” Olive Oil Cake is simple — because it doesn’t have to be! We’ve also made this recipe with lemon and almond extract instead of orange and vanilla. You can even add poppyseeds. The options are endless.
This cake is what I’d colloquially call a “snacking” cake. It’s not overly sweet, and it’s for any occasion. I like to cut it into little squares to bring to gatherings. It’s always a hit.
Citrus Olive Oil Cake
8-10
30
minutes1
hour1
hour30
minutesIngredients
- Cookie
3/4 cup (177ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup (236ml) plant-based milk
300g (1 + 1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
210g (1 + 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
42g (1/4 cup) fine corn meal
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 orange, zested & juiced
2 tsp vanilla extract
powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Cut a 9” circle of parchment paper and lay in in the bottom of your springform pan or cake pan. Doesn’t need to be perfect! Pour a tbsp of olive oil into your pan, and spread it around the entire inside of the pan with your hands. Then, sprinkle a tbsp of sugar into the pan, and move it around until it lightly coats the bottom and sides of the pan. Set pan side.
- Whisk together flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium sized bowl and set aside.
- In another bowl, add the orange zest and sugar together, massage between your finger tips for a few minutes and set aside. (You can also do this ahead of time, the longer the sugar & zest sit, the more flavorful your final product!)
- In yet another bowl, add the olive oil, milk, applesauce, & orange juice, whisk together vigorously for a 30 seconds to a minute.
- Add the sugar and lemon zest mixture to the wet ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and fold in, until just incorporated.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean – around 45-55 minutes. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before removing the springform sides. Dust lightly with powdered sugar.
Notes
- If using real eggs, we’d recommend three room temperature eggs, and reducing baking powder to → 1 tsp and baking powder to → 1/4 tsp baking soda.
