This olive oil cake is flavoured with whole lemon and the strong grassy fragrance of extra virgin olive oil. It’s both moist and light; if you prefer, you can swap the lemon for orange or a clemantine. It’s quick and easy to make with a only handful of ingredients – enjoy that – an unusual occurrence at the Wild Epicurean😃.
Although a reasonably frugal recipe – the olive oil must be good quality – poor-quality oil will not give you the same result. Recipes often recommend a light oil, but I beg to differ: we use our extra virgin – the same delicious oil we put on the salads – you want to taste the full fruitiness of extra virgin olive oil.
It is an elegant enough cake to serve as a dessert with fresh red berries and mascarpone or as a simple treat with coffee. Transform it into a lemon drizzle cake, slice it in half, and fill it with lemon or orange curd. I’ve suggested a simple fresh lemon glaze but I think it’s perfect as is. You could also serve with ice cream or cream or both.
It is also one of those moments to treat yourself to organic fruit. The recipe whizzes up the whole lemon. If buying one organic lemon is tricky – go for a small ‘batch cook’ with one for the freezer. It freezes very well.
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Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Equipment
- 900g (2lb) loaf cake tin
Ingredients
- 1 organic lemon minimum 100g
- 125 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon zest or orange zest
- 2 medium eggs (lightly beaten)
- 50 g greek yoghurt (full fat min 5%)
- 125 g soft golden sugar
- 100 g all-purpose flour
- 50 g almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Optional Lemon Glaze
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, cover the lemon with water and boil for 10-15 minutes until soft. Cool and roughly chop removing any pips. Be careful to keep all the juice.
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Line the loaf tin with baking parchment or grease with a little olive oil.
- Sieve the baking soda, powder, salt, flour and almond flour. Make sure the dry ingredients are well combined.
- In a food processor, whizz the sugar, vanilla and whole chopped lemon until frothy and the lemon is pureed. Add the beaten eggs and whizz well. With the blade turning gently – drizzle in the olive oil and then add the yoghurt until fully incorporated.
- Whisk in the flour mixture but don't overmix. A couple of turns until the flour has dissolved.
- Immediately pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes. Check on the cake after 25 minutes. If a toothpick/knife comes out clean, remove it from the oven. If it needs a little longer but the is top browning too quickly – cover it with a piece of foilBecause of the potential slight difference in the juiciness of the lemon – sometimes this cake takes 25-30 or even 35 minutes. Keep an eye on it!
- Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and freshly zested lemon or the lemon glaze.
Optional Lemon Glaze
- Mix the powdered sugar and teaspoon of lemon zest with two tablespoons of lemon juice, adding more juice until you have a thick, spreadable glaze.
- When the cake is cool. Pour a third of the glaze over the cake – when it has set pour as much as you need of the remaining glaze.
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