Healthy Olive Oil Cake

This delicious Olive Oil cake is fluffy, with nice citrus flavour and even healthy! Made without refined sugar and with healthy fats, it is one of the most nutritious desserts you can make for someones birthday. It is also easy to prepare, following the step-by-step recipe below.

Why bake a cake with olive oil

Olive oil is great for cakes and desserts! Especially the extra virgin one. It has a wonderful taste and won’t make your dessert smell like olives, in case you wonder. I use it in majority of my desserts because it is also healthy: in fact one of the healthiest oils in the world. Unlike many other vegetable fats, olive oil is very stable during cooking or baking and doesn’t decompose easily, as many people think.

How does this cake taste

This cake has a mild citrus taste due to the lemon and orange extract added to it. It is really nice to mix these two flavours. If you don’t have orange extract or zest, you can add some edible rose water to the frosting: it will go perfectly well too. You can also make the cake all lemony: you won’t go wrong that way too.

Baking tips

• This cake is easy to prepare. Its baking technique is very similar to many other cakes, including some in this blog: the eggs are beaten with the sugar, then oil, cream and flavours are added and the dry ingredients come at the end. Simple and sweet, just including unrefined ingredients instead of usual white sugar and all purpose flour.
• The cake base is naturally moist and fluffy. Initially I wasn’t planning to cut it into two layers but I realised that the frosting quantity was too much to be used just for topping. That’s why I frosted the cake all around and sandwiched the two layers. But if you prefer just one layer cake, you can enjoy it in this format.
• The decoration is completely optional. I added some rose petals and lemon zest. Candied orange and lemon peels would go very well too. You can even leave the cake plain on top, just with the frosting: it will be still great.

I would be really happy if you like this cake! Please share in the comments what you think of the recipe. If you made it, let me know how it went!
You might want to check out some other healthy cake recipes:

Healthy Red Velvet Cake
Healthy Carrot Cake with Almonds and Hazelnuts
Banana Cake with Coconut Frosting – Healthy & Vegan

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5 from 1 vote

Healthy Olive Oil Cake

Prep Time40 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Equipment

• Electric mixer

Ingredients

For the cake base:

• 1 ⅔ cup / 200 g cup whole grain spelt flour
• 1 cup/ 200 g coconut sugar
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup / 100 ml olive oil , + more for greasing
• ⅓ cup/ 80 ml heavy cream, (see notes)
• 1,5 teaspoons baking powder
• zest of 1 organic lemon, or 2 teaspoons lemon extract

For the frosting:

• 1 cup / 240 g mascarpone
• ⅔ cup / 150 g sour cream
• ¼ / 60 ml maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon orange extract , or 2 teaspoons rose water

Instructions

Cake base:

• Preheat oven to 360 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Line a 7 inch/ 18 cm cake pan with a circle of baking paper.
• In a bowl combine flour, and baking powder. Mix well and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs and the coconut sugar with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, until foamy. Add oil and lemon zest (or extract) and beat for few seconds, until combined. Add the cream and beat again shortly.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing gently with a rubber spatula until absorbed.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool until room temperature, before assembling it.

Frosting:

• In a large mixing bowl beat together all ingredients until smooth and fluffy.

To assemble:

• Remove the cake from the pan by running carefully a small knife around its edges and then inverting it on a plate.
• Cut the cake horizontally into two equal layers, using a long serrated knife.
• Place one layer on a serving plate and spread on top about ⅓ of the frosting.
• Cover with the second layer (make sure you are placing on top the bottom of the cake to make it even).
• Spread the frosting on top and all around using an offset spatula or a butter knife.
• Decorate with lemon or orange slices / zest or edible rose petals.

Notes

• You can also use a mix of whole grain and white spelt flour to make the cake base.
• Instead of heavy cream you can use sour cream. Buttermilk could be an option as well, if you don’t have cream.
• Brown sugar works as well, instead of coconut sugar, however the cake won’t be as healthy any more.
• If you are not very experienced at cutting cake layers, refrigerate the base for 2-3 hours before cutting and assembling it.

Cake Pan Conversions CalculatorAdapt any cake recipe to your pan with this calculator!

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