Italian Olive Oil Cake is perfectly moist with its olive oil rich center and crusty golden honey drenched top. Orange zest and juice, cardamom, Grand Marnier and honey create a flavorful -- without being cloying – moist and rich dessert. This all comes together quickly with little fuss and little clean-up.
With roots in the Mediterranean where olive oil is a pantry staple bakers turned to it as a less expensive alternate to butter. Here as the featured ingredient that infuses the cake, it’s important that extra virgin olive oil with a fruity bent be used if you want to accentuate the orange and honey. A more peppery olive oil that leans in on “herbal” will produce a more savory cake.
While I like this served simply alone, it would also be lovely with a scoop of pistachio or amaretto ice cream. Or, how about mixed berries that have been macerated in white balsamic vinegar and honey?
Ingredients
- extra-virgin olive oil
- all-purpose flour
- medium-grind yellow cornmeal
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cardamom
- large eggs
- sugar
- orange zest
- whole milk]
- fresh squeezed orange juice
- Grand Marnier
- wildflower honey
- water
See recipe card for quantities.
Jump to RecipeInstructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 9-inch round cake pan (2’ deep) with olive oil and dust it with flour.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cardamom.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, sugar, and the orange zest.
Beat until mixture is pale and smooth, about 3 minutes. .
On low speed, slowly pour in the olive oil, milk, orange juice and orange liqueur until blended.
Add the flour/cornmeal mixture to the bowl and stir to combine.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake, rotating once, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean about 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer the cake to a rack and let cool for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the honey and water together and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Reserve.
Remove the cake from the pan if desired and transfer to a rimmed plate. Drizzle the honey over the surface of the cake allowing it to soak in for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve.
Hint: If you want to remove the olive oil cake from the pan to a serving platter prior to serving, use a 9" cake pan that is at least 2" deep.
While this could work nicely in a 9" springform pan, I hesitated as the batter is thin and was concerned the batter would seep through the bottom. To avoid this, ensure a tight seal by wrapping the pan's bottom and sides with aluminum foil, or line the pan with parchment paper. I will try this next time and update the post accordingly.
Substitutions
- Cornmeal - substitute almond flour or regular flour
- Orange Zest and Juice - use fresh lemon zest and juice instead. Grapefruit would work nicely too.
- Cardamom - I love the taste of cardamom with oranges here. If you are considering making this with lemons, use ½ tsp. ground ginger instead of cardamom.
- Grand Marnier -- another orange flavored liqueur can be substituted. Or consider using amaretto.
Variations
- Almond and Orange - Use almond flour instead of corn meal. Add ½ tsp. almond extract to batter instead of the cardamom.
- Lemon, Ginger and Vanilla - Replace the orange juice and zest with lemon juice and zest. Add a ½ teaspoon ground ginger to the dry ingredients instead of the cardamom and 1 tsp. vanilla to the wet ingredients. Instead of finishing with flaked sea salt, simply grate a light dusting of lemon zest over the top of the honey.
Equipment
- 9" cake pan
- stand or hand mixer
Storage
This Italian Olive Oil Cake will remain fresh for 3 to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or foil or under a cake dome. Or store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze the cake well wrapped for up to 3 months.
🍽️ Recipe
Italian Olive Oil Cake with Orange, Cardamom and Honey
Equipment
- 9" wide cake pan
- stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more for pan
- 1-½ cups all-purpose flour plus more for pan
- ¾ cup medium-grind cornmeal or almond flour
- I teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- 3 large eggs
- I-¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1-½ tablespoon Grand Marnier or orange flavored liqueur or amaretto
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup water
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 9-inch round cake pan (2’ deep) with olive oil and dust it with flour.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cardamom.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, sugar, and the orange zest, beating until mixture is pale and smooth, about 3 minutes. On low speed, slowly pour in the olive oil, milk, orange juice and orange liqueur until blended.
- Add the flour/cornmeal mixture to the bowl and stir to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake, rotating once, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean about 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer the cake to a rack and let cool for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the honey and water together and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Reserve.
- Remove the cake from the pan if desired and transfer to a rimmed plate. Drizzle the honey over the surface of the cake allowing it to soak in for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve.
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