Italian Olive Oil Cake with Orange, Cardamom and Honey
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.
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.
Notes
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.