Olive Oil Cake

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Orange is one of my favorite holiday flavors, and because there are so many decadent treats around this time of year I wanted to share a lighter recipe that with still satisfy your sweet tooth but not fill you with regrets!  If you like a bit of extra zing try using fresh cranberries!

Pro Tips for the Best Olive Oil Cake

• Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
• Toss the pecans and dried cranberries with flour so they don’t all sink in the batter.
• For the best looking bundt reserve some of the batter without the buts and fruit then  spoon  it into the pan and brush it into the crevices. After the batter is all in got the pan a few taps on the counter to help air bubbles out. 
• This cake has orange zest in the batter but you can add lemon zest too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use olive oil for cake?

I used an extra virgin Spanish olive oil for this cake and it gave a wonderfully moist crumb with all the health benefits of olive oil! Using olive oil in place of butter also means you can chill the cake and not worry about it getting hard as is the cake with butter-based cakes.

What does olive oil cake taste like?

While the olive oil lends a beautiful fragrance you the batter you’ll probably struggle to taste it in the finished product, especially in a cake like this which has strong notes of orange and cranberry. You just taste a great moist cake with perhaps the slightest hint of olive oil.

Can I use fresh cranberries for this cake?

Toasted pecans and dried cranberries rounded out the flavors in this cake very nicely but you can TOTALLY use fresh cranberries for this cake. I might just cut them in half and dredge in flour before adding to the batter.

How long will this cake keep for?

This cake is fine overnight at room temperature if covered. You can refrigerate the cake for up to 4 days or freeze the cake for two months. Always bring cake  back to room temperature before enjoying!

How to Make Olive Oil Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Zest the orange and set aside, then juice the orange into a medium bowl.

2. Add the olive oil and orange blossom water to the freshly squeezed juice, then give it a mix and set aside. In a separate bowl toss the toasted pecans and dried cranberries with some flour and set aside. Now go ahead and sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Give it a whisk to make sure everything is well incorporated and set it aside.

3. In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add in 1 1/2 cups of sugar, the eggs, and orange zest (some lemon zest is optional). Mix on high for about 8 minutes or until thickened. Add the sour cream to your egg and sugar mixture and mix to combine. While mixer is running on low, slowly pour in olive oil mixture.

4. Now slowly add the flour mixture while mixing on low. 

5. Turn off the mixer and remove the whisk attachment. To have a beautiful edge, reserve some batter to pour it into the pan first. Now add the toasted pecans and dried cranberries.

6. Spray or butter and flour your pan then pour the reserved batter into the pan first. Spread the batter around into the crevasse of the pan to make sure it is well coated. Then go ahead and fill up the pan about 2/3 of the way. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

7. For the glaze; Add the confectioners sugar and about 2 tbsp fresh orange juice to a bowl. Whisk it up and add some juice from the lemon. You may have to add some more confectioners sugar or orange juice until you reach a desired consistency.

8. For the assembly; Let the bundt cool then remove it from the pan. Give your glaze a quick mix then pour it on the top of your bundt cake.

If you’ve tried this olive oil cake recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!

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5 from 3 votes

Olive Oil Cake

A delicious and healthy olive oil cake full of orange, cranberries and toasted pecans.

Course cake, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12

Calories 260kcal

Author John Kanell

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3 cups plus 2 tbsp; all purpose flour 360g and 16g for coating
• 1 tbsp baking powder 12g
• 1/2 tsp salt 2-3g
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 300g
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 236mL
• 1/2 cup sour cream 240g
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp orange blossom water 5mL
• 1 cup pecans crushed (1 tbsp flour to coat)
• 1 cup dried cranberries 1 tbsp flour to coat
• 1 orange zested and juiced 3/4 cup fresh orange juice, 177mL
• zest of a lemon

For the Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners sugar 110g
• 2-3 tbsp fresh orange juice 30-45mL
• 1/2 lemon juiced, 1-2 tbsp or 15-30mL

Instructions

For the Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Toast pecans and crush them up. Measure out 1 cup or 1 1/2 cups depending on preference. Coat with 1 tbsp flour. Set aside.
• Put dried cranberries in a bowl. Coat with flour. Set aside.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Give it a whisk and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment add in 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs.
• Add in the zest of an orange. A bit of lemon zest is nice too but optional.
• Mix on high for about 8 minutes or until thickened.
• In a large bowl add the fresh orange juice, olive oil, and orange blossom water if using.
• Add sour cream to your stand mixer and mix to incorporated.
• While mixer is running on low, slowly pour in olive oil mixture.
• Now add the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Turn off mixer and remove whisk attachment.
• To have a beautiful edge, reserve some batter before adding nuts to pour it into the pan first.
• Add orange blossom water, toasted pecans and dried cranberries.
• Spray or butter and flour your pan. Pour reserved batter in pan first. Spread the batter around into the crevasse of the pan to make sure it is well coated.
• Now fold batter with nuts once more and pour into your pan. Fill up about 2/3 of the way to leave room for rising.
• Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool then remove from pan.

For the Glaze

• Add confectioners sugar and about 2 tbsp fresh orange juice to a large bowl. Whisk it up.
• Add some juice from the lemon.
• Add some more confectioners sugar or orange juice until desired consistency is reached.

For the Assembly

• Pour orange glaze on top of the bundt cake and enjoy!

Video

Notes

• Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
• You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
• For this cake, you can also substitute more olive oil for the sour cream if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 4.3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.7g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 207mg | Potassium: 116mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 175IU | Vitamin C: 24.8mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 1.6mg