Last May my husband and I went to Italy. It was a magical two weeks spent sightseeing the most beautiful cities, touring countryside and taking fabulous cooking classes. I was in heaven. I honestly think if I didn’t have children and grandchildren here in the states, I could pack in all in and move to Italy, spending the rest of my days eating fresh vegetables, pizza, pasta and of course…Traditional Italian Olive Oil Cake!
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Traditional Italian Olive Oil Cake:
There are hundreds of recipes for olive oil cake online and most are very similar. Extremely similar in fact. My theory is, why mess with perfection? Olive oil cake is made with the usual cake ingredients but also includes olive oil and plenty of orange and lemon zest .
Before baking, the batter is topped with almond slices so the cake has a crispy, nutty top.
You can serve as is, or top the cake with assorted berries, peaches, grapes, whatever is in season!
A light dusting of powdered sugar makes this cake look delicate and ethereal!
Just beautiful! The flavors of sweet fruit and rich olive oil are an exquisite pair!
The Recipe: Traditional Italian Olive Oil Cake
You will need: an 8″ non stick cake pan and a microplane for zesting the orange and lemon (affiliate links).
This is an Old Italian cake recipe that was passed down from my great, great, great Grandma…. oh wait I am Danish. Okay it was passed down thru some Italians I don’t know, but it is good! It’s a moist, yellow cake and tastes great dusted with just a little powdered sugar and berries.
- 1 tablespoon butter (to coat pan)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 3 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
- 3 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup good olive oil
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- confectioners sugar, for dusting
- assorted berries or peaches or whatever fruit you prefer to top cake
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place oven rack in center of oven. Use a paper towel to coat sides and bottom of an 8" round cake pan with butter
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In a mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl use a mixer to cream together eggs, sugar and zest until well combined. Beat in milk and then slowly drizzle olive in while continuing to mix.
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Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Whisk until well blended. Pour mixture into the cake pan. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top of batter.
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Bake for 35 minutes or until cake springs back from touch. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool. Use a knife to separate cake from sides of pan, remove cake from pan. Dust with powdered sugar, top with berries or peaches, dust again and serve!
Such a simple and lovely dessert! If you would like to receive beautiful FREE recipes like this one weekly, please sign up for my recipe newsletter (just under my picture in the right sidebar.) ~ Linda Spiker
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hi Linda! We are going to Italy in April. So excited! Looking forward to receiving your newsletter!
Thanks Sherri! Where are you going in Italy? We just loved it. LOVED IT!
Where or when do you use the almond paste.
Hi Bonnae, I think you must be referring to the vanilla paste, and that was a mistake. I have since removed it. Thanks!
Love this !!!
can you email me this receipe please?
You can print it directly from the website 🙂
Thanks, my cake is in the oven! I noticed that one place called for lemon zest and another orange zest. Does it matter?
Lemon zest or orange zest?
Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it. Lemon zest! But orange would work fine as well, I just like the lighter flavor of the lemon. I hope the cake turns out great!
Could I bake cake in a bundt pan?
I assume so, but haven’t done it so I can’t make any promises 🙂
I just found your recipe, having looked at many for the olive oil cake. I see that you recommend GOOD oil, but do you have a preference i.e. light, regular or EVOO? Having perused a good number of recipes at this point, most are leaning towards EVOO for a more pronounced olive flavor. I Would tend to use perhaps 2/3 EVOO, and 1/3 lighter variety the first time and see how that goes. You input is appreciated.
Thank you
Great question! I use straight up good quality EVOO. It is an olive oil cake, and the point is to taste the olive oil. But I have had people in my classes that didn’t enjoy the olive oil flavor, so perhaps using a light or extra light might be more their thing. I will have to edit this post to talk about that. Thanks for the push:)
A bit heavy on the liquid compared to most recipes. I followed measurements in this one and am still at a batter consistency towards the centre after a 1.25 hours in the oven. Looked up other recipes and this one has about 1 to 1.5 cups more liquid that. Other recipes with similar dry mix volumes.
Hi Devin. Thanks for your comment. I have been making this for years and taught this recipe in my cooking classes and it turns out great, that said, I had one other comment saying the same and have it on my list to revisit for editing if needed. Sorry it took so long to set up for you. I will keep you posted if I end up amending the recipe. Thanks again.