I am super excited to share this week's recipe, which is olive oil orange cake! Wait until you smell the citrusy raw batter, the heavenly goodness while it's baking, and oh yes, when you take it out from the oven. Your life would never be the same again (and I refuse to say I'm too dramatic here because I'm not. haha!)
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Ingredients
The Texture
I can talk the whole day about the texture of this cake. But I won't because I want you to experience it yourself instead of me convincing you. I'll just say a few words so that you can hurry up and go make this beauty!
The texture of this cake?
Oh, it is super duper soft, fluffy, and moist, just like our delicious layered carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Seriously, I'm not kidding.
You can already tell just by looking at the crumbs. They don't look compact or dense. No, we don't want any dense cakes here, do we?
You can also see how soft and fluffy it is when you insert a fork into it for a bite, the cake is like a soft sponge. Yum yum!
The Taste
I'm using a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean ¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil for this 9-inch (23 cm) cake.
With that amount, you can taste the olive oil in the cake with every bite that you take. It's so beautiful and amazing to be able to taste it, more in a cake like this.
I don't know about you but I just love extra virgin olive oil, and I even use it to make my amazing light and tender crepes. The fruity taste, a bit tangy, slightly natural bitter taste of a good quality extra virgin olive oil... oh so delicious. Since Spain is one of the world's largest producers of good quality olive oil, it's not an expensive oil here. We only buy extra virgin olive oil for the house for our daily cooking.
The orange touch is just to give a slightly citrusy flavor to the cake, which I think is just perfect.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Oil, in general, helps make cakes moister, like in my lemon meringue cupcakes. And as I mentioned earlier, I use extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. What is that?
As we all know, olive oil is the oil from olives. Yes, it's that. There are varieties of olive oil in the market, but we often encounter olive oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Extra virgin olive oil is different from just olive oil in the sense that it's:
- the highest quality of any olive oil where you press the olives to get the oil without using high temperature or any chemicals
- pure olive oil that's untreated
- not mixed with other grades of olive oil
- with a stronger natural taste (fruity, a touch of tangy and bitter)
- high in antioxidants
Having those in mind, I'd recommend you find extra virgin olive oil for this recipe and my amazing Lebanese flatbreads (Man'oushe za'atar) recipe. You will not regret it. It is an olive oil cake after all so we want those beautiful flavors of a good olive oil so that it's worthy of its name.
Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.
Hungry For More?
Do check these out, they're our readers' favorite cakes:
- Lemon loaf cake
- Super easy orange cake
- Devil's food cake with chocolate sour cream frosting
- Almond lemon cake
- Peach cobbler with cake mix
Watch How To Make It
📖 Recipe
Olive Oil Orange Cake
Video
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour (160 g), use scoop and level method
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Oil Mixture
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil (190 ml)
- ¼ cup orange juice (60 ml)
Wet Ingredients
- 3 large eggs , room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar (150 g)
- zest of 1 orange
Topping
- some powdered sugar
- some orange peel
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Oil Mixture
- Mix all ingredients in a jar and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
Wet Ingredients
- In another bowl, add in eggs and sugar. Using a hand whisk, whisk the mixture until it turns pale. This will take a few minutes.
- Now we will add dry ingredients in 3 times, alternating with oil mixture. Whisk until everything is well combine after each addition but make sure you don't over mix. Try to scrape the bottom of the bowl as you go to mix better.
Baking
- Pour batter in a 9 inch (23 cm) round pan that has been greased and lined at the bottom. Bang the pan 2 times on the working surface. Bake in a preheated oven at 340ºF (170ºC), fan off, at ⅔ lower rack, for 25-30 minutes or until you insert a wooden skewer in the center of the cake and it comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave it for 10 minutes before flipping it on a rack to cool completely.
- Dust with powdered sugar and sprinkles of orange peels. Slice, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- use scoop and level method if you're using cup measurements
- since all oven come with different strength of temperature, I'd really recommend you to use portable thermometer for a more accurate temperature reading, thus preventing cases of cake collapsing in the middle
- do not over mix the batter because then you will loose all the air, resulting a dense cake
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ann says
Hi I was wondering if I double the amount of ingredients like you suggested do I still bake it in the same temperature and time?
Bea & Marco says
Hi Ann! Bake at the same temperature but increase the cooking time. Check at minute 30 and go from there. Hope it helps!
Roxana says
I didn’t taste the orange, would it work to double the orange juice used or add orange zest? Thanks!
Roxana
Bea says
Sorry to hear that. Yes, you can add more orange zest if you want. Hope it helps!
Ipsa says
Hello,
I am about to try this recipe tonight. Does it matter what type of orange I use?
Bea says
Hi! Any orange will do, no problem at all. Hope it helps!
Eloise says
I have been use this recipe for so many times . It’s so great . Thank u very much. I made rainbow cake with this recipe for my grandson’s 10 th birthday . Everyone enjoyed so much
Bea says
Oh wow, I bet it looked beautiful and tasted amazing! Thank you so much Eloise!
Tricia says
Amazing! My Nonna used to make this when I was a child so this recipe brought back lots of wonderful memories! Thank you!
Bea says
Oh I'm so happy to know that, Tricia. This is really a classic, right? Glad that you're enjoying it, thank you!
Maya says
I liked it so much. Thanks a lot for this recipe. Easy to make and definitely a healthier version of cakes. Also, as a very first spongey cake I make, it turned out completely successful. Thanks for the important details.
Bea says
No problem, glad that you find them useful. Do look around here if you're looking for healthy bakes, I have yum recipes. Thanks for your feedback, Maya!
Katia says
The cake is just perfect and so easy! Thank you for sharing this recipe Bea!
Bea says
Yeay 🙌! Thanks for giving it a try, Katia! I just love the orange scent and flavour in the cake 😍.
Helen says
Lovely recipe. Thank you. I have made this many times. Sometimes I make it as a lemon cake. Tonight while getting out my olive oil, I found I had a bottle of Blood Orange EEVO. Outstanding!
Bea says
Blood orange eevo? Now I'm intrigue! Happy to know that you're making variations of it. It's one of my favs. Thanks Helen!
Helen says
Of course I meant EVOO. Bought it at a fair from a company that sells all different types of Extra Virgin Olive Oils as well as many types of Balsamic vinegars. I have some Meyer Lemon EVOO. I’ll be using that next
Helen says
Of course I meant EVOO. Bought it at a fair from a company that sells all different types of Extra Virgin Olive Oils as well as many types of Balsamic vinegars. I have some Meyer Lemon EVOO. I’ll be using that next
Rebecca says
Omg new cake recipe!! It’s so delicious and simple. If you’re looking for the perfect olive oil cake to make this is it! 100/10
Bea says
I'm so excited that you gave it a try, Rebecca! Yes, it's super easy and delish. Thank you!
Elizabeth Ng says
Dear Bea,
Thank you so much for this recipe! I've made this cake about 4 times and will definitely make it again. It's moist and the orange aroma is amazing. It's also easily put together and there's no orange wastage at all.
I like making it with baking/cooking olive oil instead of extra virgin olive oil. I like the orange aroma better than the extra virgin olive oil's :).
Bea says
4 times already? That's great Elizabeth, I'm so excited to hear that. Yes, it's a super easy cake to make and super moist. And of course, switch the oil to your liking, no problem at all. Thank you for your feedback!
Katheryn says
Hi! I just made your recipe and loved it but I noticed that the confectioners sugar dissolved overnight and lost it’s white powdery look. So now it looks like what a more filmy version of the top layer without the “white” confectioners sugar look. I’m wondering if it’s too much oil, or maybe I didn’t let it dry out enough before adding the sugar? Does this happen to you?
Bea says
Hi Katheryn! I'd recommend you dusting the cake just before serving to preserve the white look. The cake is moist so it's natural that the confectioner sugar got absorbed in time. Hope it helps.
shristi says
hi , why is your cake so levelled when it came out the oven but mine comes out completely risen in the middle I have used exact amount and followed it step by step ... do you think I may be doing something wrong that the cake isn't all levelled ??
please help
Bea says
Hi! Sorry to hear that! Did you pour and spread the batter evenly, then bang the pan? Or maybe your oven is too hot, please refer to my notes for that. Hope it helps!
Elizabeth Ng says
Hi Shristi,
I also do not get a levelled cake. Mine is the same as yours, risen more in the middle. It still tastes good so I don't mind :).
Dee says
Hi, thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. Can I use almond flour or any other gluten free alternatives? I am allergic to wheat. Thank you.
Bea says
Hi! I haven't tried it with GF alternatives so I can't really say. Usually there's always adjustments to be made when using GF alternatives. Sorry!