Must-Try Spring Cake
Introducing my new favorite spring cake: olive oil cake! This cake is the perfect after-dinner treat for those of you looking for something sweet but not too sweet. It’s a tender, plush cake (no frosting necessary — it’s not often you’ll hear me say that) that has a light olive oil flavor accented with a squeeze of citrus. A sprinkle of granulated sugar on top gives us a crisp, candied topping that’s a nice textural contrast to the ultra-plush cake (and it’s way more fun than your typical powdered sugar dusting). While most cake recipes recommend a neutral oil like canola or vegetable (like my yellow cake), today’s recipe capitalizes on the robust taste of extra virgin olive oil to create a uniquely flavored cake. The olive oil isn’t overwhelming, but it is noticeable so 1) choose an olive oil with a pleasant flavor, and 2) if you don’t like olive oil, you might want to skip this one! I took a page from my sour cream pound cake recipe, and decided to whip the egg whites separately before folding them in to our cake batter. Why this extra step? I promise I’m not having you dirty extra dishes for nothing. Olive oil tends to make the cake a bit more dense, so adding whipped egg whites will lighten things up to create a beautiful texture. The resulting cake is still dense (not as dense as a pound cake), but it melts in your mouth. You are going to love it!
What You Need
Look at that, less than 10 ingredients! It’s simple and classic. Here are a few ingredients worth paying some extra attention to:
Olive oil. While the olive oil taste in this cake is subtle, I do recommend using an extra virgin olive oil with a flavor you enjoy. More on this below. Lemon. Citrus pairs so beautifully with olive oil! I use lemon in today’s recipe, but you could substitute orange or really any other citrus. You’ll need the juice and the zest from your fruit. Eggs. We’ll be separating our eggs today so we can whip the egg whites separately. Make sure that you don’t let even a tiny bit of yolk mix in with the the whites, or they won’t whip properly. As when whipping egg whites for macarons, it’s important the bowl you whip them in be clean, dry, and grease-free. Milk. I like using whole milk here for best results. Another milk could work, but I can’t guarantee the cake will be as moist if you make a substitution. Sugar. Regular granulated sugar goes in the cake, while coarse sugar is sprinkled on top. If you don’t have coarse sugar, granulated will work fine for the top too.
SAM’S TIP: This recipe works best with room temperature eggs. Forgot to set yours out? Follow the tips in my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature! Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Olive Oil Cake
SAM’S TIP: Be gentle when folding in your whipped egg whites! After spending time whipping them up to stiff peaks, the last thing we want to do is deflate all that air. Would you be interested in seeing a chocolate olive oil cake? Surveying the crowd to determine if I should indulge my inner urge to make everything chocolate. Let me know in the comments! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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