This Olive Oil Cake recipe is easy and delicious! Lightly sweetened, and infused with with orange zest and rosemary, perfect for dessert, brunch or afternoon tea. Video.

This Olive Oil Cake with orange and rosemary is pretty stress-free. Incredibly easy to whip up and comes out tender, moist and delicious.

Orange zest elevates the fruitier notes of olive oil. Rosemary adds an herbaceous dimension to the cake, harmonizing perfectly with the orange essence and olive oil. Here are a couple more popular dessert recipes using olive oil: Vegan Cranberry Cake and Double Spice Pumpkin Bread!

Olive oil Cake | 60-Sec video

Ingredients In Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients in olive oil cake.

Ingredient Notes

  • Olive Oil– 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.)
  • Optional Additions– dark chocolate chunks, dried figs or cherries.

Baking Pan- 9-10″ springform or tart pan

*See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.     

How To Make Olive Oil Cake

Dry ingredients in a bowl.

Step One- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking pan with oil and parchment.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Wet ingredients in a bowl.

Step Two- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, olive oil and yogurt. Add orange zest, and rosemary.

Cake batter mixed together.

Step Three- Fold wet mixture gently into the dry ingredients.

Cake in a baking pan sprinkled with coarse sugar.

Step Four- Pour into the baking pan and sprinkle coarse sugar evenly over the top. Bake 40-50 minutes. Internal temperature should be 200F.

You can skip the sugar topping if you wish, however, the cake batter is very lightly sweetened, the coarse sugar adds a lovely crusty crunch without making it too sweet.

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.

Serve as is or top with a dollop of yogurt or whip cream.

Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Recipe FAQS

What does olive oil cake taste like?

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.

Is olive oil cake healthy?

Extra virgin olive oil is a very healthy oil that remains stable during baking.

How do you store olive oil cake?

Olive oil cake will stay fresh, sealed at room temperature for up to 3 days.

More Recipes You May Enjoy

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.

Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.

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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.

Olive Oil Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 12 reviews
  • Author: Tonia | Feasting at Home
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: 10 pieces 1x
  • 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

Units Scale
  • 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 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

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 9-10″baking pan (springform or tart pan) with oil and parchment.
  2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl, whisk together eggs, olive oil and yogurt. Add orange zest, and rosemary.
  4. 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

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Comments

  1. 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.

  2. 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!!❤️






  3. 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






  4. 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.






  5. 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.






  6. 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.






  7. 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!






  8. Perfect balance between the orange and rosemary. Moist but also slightly crumbly. I served it with fresh berries. Yummy






  9. I knew it was going to taste good when I tasted the batter. It is moist and delicious. Definitely something I will make again






  10. 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. 😊

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