This Olive Oil Cake recipe is easy and delicious! It is lightly sweetened and infused with orange zest and rosemary, perfect for dessert, brunch, or afternoon tea. Video.
This Olive Oil Cake with orange and rosemary tastes light and refreshing, citrusy and complex with subtle grassy notes of olive oil. It is incredibly easy to whip up and comes out tender, moist, and light. For extra citrus flavor, serve it with our Lemon Glaze.
Orange zest elevates the fruitier notes of olive oil while rosemary adds an herbaceous dimension to the cake, harmonizing perfectly with the orange essence and olive oil.
We love using olive oil in cakes, skipping the butter, not only for the light texture and lovely flavor but also the many health benefits! Try our Vegan Cranberry Cake and Double Spice Pumpkin Bread!
Ingredients In Olive Oil Cake
*See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
- Olive Oil– The star ingredient! Using an extra virgin pure olive oil with a light, clean finish is best. No need to use the fanciest oil, but you do want decent quality. Kind of the same rule as with wine, you want to cook with something you like the flavor of and use for finishing touches, think dressings, drizzling on bread, etc.
- Whole Milk Yogurt- gives a lovely tang. (Buttermilk, whole milk or nut milk will work here too.)
- Orange Zest– brightens the flavor and blends perfectly with the olive oil. (You can certainly use lemon zest instead.)
- Flour– use all-purpose flour or pastry flour.
- Granulated Sugar– we’ve cut it back as much as possible! Use organic if possible.
- Large Eggs – for richness, structure, lightness and leavening.
- Baking Soda– for a little extra leavening.
- Kosher salt– or sea salt.
- Optional- coarse sugar for topping, fresh rosemary adds a delicious complexity, dark chocolate chunks, dried figs or cherries.
- Baking Pan- 9 to10- inch springform or tart pan
*See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Olive Oil Cake
Step One: Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and mix.
Step Two: In a separate medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together: eggs, olive oil and yogurt. Add orange zest, and rosemary.
Step Three: Fold the wet mixture gently into the flour mixture and stir.
Step Four- Prepare a baking pan with oil and optional parchment paper. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle coarse sugar evenly over the top.
TIP: You can skip the sugar topping if you wish. However, the cake batter is very lightly sweetened, and the coarse sugar adds a lovely crusty crunch without making it too sweet.
Step Five- Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes until puffed and golden and internal temperature reaches 200F. Place on a wire rack and let it cool before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Serve as is or sprinkle with powdered sugar, or make our lemon glaze, or top with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh raspberries or serve with homemade ice cream.
Storing your olive oil cake
Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or wrap tightly and refrigerate for up to 10 days. The cake can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQS
The quality of ingredients is key. The crumb is coarser than a traditional cake, the texture is tender and moist. Use good clean olive oil (no blends!) that has a smooth flavor and a bit of citrus for the perfect compliment.
Extra virgin olive oil is a very healthy oil that remains stable during baking.
Use a 9-inch round cake pan, lined with parchment paper or a 10-inch tart pan, oiled.
More Favorite Cake Recipes
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
Olive oil Cake | 60-Sec video
Olive Oil Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 10 pieces
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Mediteranean
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Enhanced with fresh rosemary and orange zest this Olive Oil Cake is easy to make, has a lovely rustic texture and stays moist for days. Lightly sweetened, it is perfect for dessert, brunch or with afternoon tea.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil *see notes
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt (buttermilk or regular whole milk, or nut milk will do)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/8 cup coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 9-10″baking pan (springform or tart pan) with oil and parchment.
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- In a seperate bowl, whisk together eggs, olive oil and yogurt. Add orange zest, and rosemary.
- Fold wet mixture gently into the dry ingredients. Pour into the baking pan and sprinkle coarse sugar evenly over the top. Bake 40-50 minutes. Internal temperature should be 200F.
Notes
An extra virgin pure olive oil with a light clean finish is best. No need to use the fanciest oil but you do want a descent quality. Kind of the same rule as with wine, you want to cook with something you like the flavor of and use for finishing touches, think dressings, drizzling on bread etc.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 385
- Sugar: 15.5 g
- Sodium: 121.2 mg
- Fat: 24.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.2 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 6.1 g
- Cholesterol: 56.4 mg
Happy Thanksgiving. I had wanted to make this cake however cannot find Moresh Moroccan Olive Oil. Do you have another recommendation? Thank you.
Hi Lee- you can use any olive oil! 🙂
Delicious! For a gluten free alternative, I’ve used 1 cup starch and 1 cup 1/4 buckwheat flour
Nice Selene! Thanks for sharing!
This cake is delicious; not too sweet, great texture and easy to make. Following the comment of another reader, I added chopped 72% chocolate. A perfect combination with the orange and rosemary. I’ll definitely make it again.
Sounds so yummy!
….used oat milk yogurt. (Cont from previous comment)
At first I thought cake might have failed since it felt heavy & didn’t rise at all. It was so perfect! Not sweet, which we like & you could really taste the orange zest & rosemary. We gave some to our guests who ate it this morning with coffee. (Found out olive oil cakes don’t rise.) topped with a dab of crème fraiche. Was delicious!!❤️
Oh good Sue! So happy it worked out for you.
Ce gâteau est fabuleux avec du fromage ou 16h. Il est délicieux, nous l’avons beaucoup aimer, d’ailleurs, je vais vite le refaire !
Ce mélange orange et romarin est magnifique !!!
Félicitations, c’est un Grand succès, Merci
So happy you enjoyed this Bosha! Cheese sounds like a divine pairing.
I made this with GF flour, plain 2% milk, and dried rosemary since that’s what I had in the house. I also don’t own a springform pan (or a 9 inch pan for that matter!) so I ended up dividing the batter between two 7×9 glass containers and baking it that way. It still turned out perfectly and was extremely easy to make! The cake has a lovely rich crumb and just a bit of a crisp crust. The subtle herby orange flavor is delicious and I enjoyed eating this cake with some cheese on the side and a cup of tea.
Love it Nicole! Thanks so much for sharing your adaptations!
So yummy! Love the texture. I forgot the sugar on top, but felt it was sweet enough anyways. Great with tea!
So glad you liked it Angeli!
Fabulous recipe! I’ve baked it twice and find that at 8900 feet in Colorado bake time is closer to 60-65 minutes to reach the recommended 200F internal temperature. I love that it’s not too sweet. Rosemary, Orange & Chocolate chips are so delicious together. Great dessert or Sunday breakfast.
great to hear Leslie!
Marvelous recipe. I forgot to put the turbinado sugar on before putting in the oven, so made a small amount of orange simple syrup to hold the sugar crystals on after baking. Was delicious! Doesn’t need it though.
Glad you enjoyed Bonnie!
Baked this cake and used sheep milk yoghurt. It was so delicious as a brunch item! I loved the low sugar amount. Makes it very versatile; just the perfect amount of sweet and savory. Smells wonderful while baking, too! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Perfect Marsha!
Simple and delicious.
I added some dried figs to the mix and squeezed half of the juice on top of the cake.
Sounds delicious and great to hear!
Perfect balance between the orange and rosemary. Moist but also slightly crumbly. I served it with fresh berries. Yummy
Great to hear!
Perfect! Absolutely loved it
Awesome Sheila- glad you gave it a go!
I knew it was going to taste good when I tasted the batter. It is moist and delicious. Definitely something I will make again
perfect Laurie!
Addendum: I should have said “in #4 of the directions” rather than in the ingredient list.
Looking forward to trying this. I believe that the word you want to use in the ingredients is “coarse” rather than “course,” which is what horses race on. 😊
whoops! ha…yes that is what we meant. 🐎
Those darn homonyms get me all the time! Terrific recipe.
Great recipe! I favour the buttermilk option and lots of orange zest.
Thanks Penny, Yes to more orange zest!