Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
This cake is delightfully moist and tender and has a light citrus taste to it. Paired with fresh compote and whipped cream, it’s sure to be a hit at your house!
Olive oil cake…ever make one? I never had. By using Golden Barrel Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the cake is supremely moist and keeps very well. As a matter of fact, I just ate another slice several days after I made it and it was still unbelievably moist and delicious. The olive oil pairs very nicely with citrus (really any kind of citrus), and adding the fresh compote on top, just enhances the citrus vibe.
I went grocery shopping the other day and was meandering down the produce aisle, when these beautiful blood oranges caught my eye. I’ve never eaten or baked with blood oranges, so I was eager to try them. Knowing that this winter fruit won’t be around for too much longer, I grabbed a bunch and was determined to make some sort of cake with them.
Blood oranges have a sweeter taste to them than regular oranges. And that color! Check out these beauties.
After zesting a couple of them, I placed the zest in a bowl of Golden Barrel organic cane sugar. You may use whatever sugar you have, but this course sugar was calling my name. Use your hands to rub the zest into the sugar so the flavor of the blood orange permeates throughout.
After the cake cools, it develops a lovely crust to its outside. I highly recommend eating the cake like this. It’s so delicious paired with fresh compote and whipped cream. If you happen to have leftovers, just wrap it up in foil–the crustiness will go away, but the cake will remain very moist. Still delicious but definitely try it freshly baked. I left my cake cooling in the pan for too long, so mine was a bit of a struggle to get out of the pan. So be sure to only let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then invert it on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
If you’re a citrus fan, you’ll love this blood orange olive oil cake! Give it a try before blood orange season is past. You’ll be glad you did!
- 3 blood oranges
- 1 cup Golden Barrel organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup Golden Barrel extra virgin olive oil
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- honey blood compote for serving (optional, see below)
- whipped cream (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use coconut oil (or butter) to grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Rub ingredients together with fingers until sugar is evenly coated with zest.
- Cut off bottom and top of orange and stand orange upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel. Cut up orange segments and place in bowl. Repeat with second orange. Break up segments to about 1/4-inch pieces.
- Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup. Add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With spatula, stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then take out of pan and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with honey-blood orange compote (below) and whipped cream, if desired.
- Honey-Blood Orange Compote: Cut up orange the same way as step 2. Drizzle in 1-2 teaspoons honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently. When ready to serve, slice cake and spoon compote over cake, and serve with whipped cream.
Adapted from Melissa Clark's recipe in The New York Times.
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I baked this cake today and it is a great recipe! The cake is so delicious and has a wonderful texture it looks just like the photo too! I’ll definitely bake this again (and again) thank you for sharing the recipe.