This orange olive oil cake is moist, tender, and delicious thanks to fresh orange zest and juice! It’s simple to make and can be decorated any way you want—I decided to go with a light dusting of powdered sugar, sliced oranges, and drawn on oranges using melted chocolates.
✉️ want to save this?
enter your email and i’ll send it directly to your inbox! & as a bonus, you’ll get new recipes & resources sent to you every month. 💛
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You won’t need any special equipment. No stand mixer, just a bowl, hand whisk, and cake pan!
- It’s DELICIOUS. The outside is crisp from the orange-infused sugar and the middle is soft and tender. The cake is also not-too-sweet with hints of vibrant orange flavor, balanced by the olive oil.
Looking for more orange recipes? Try out my no-bake orange cheesecake and orange sugar cookies!
Ingredients
To make easy olive oil orange cake from scratch, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Orange juice and orange zest add the perfect hint of orange flavor to this cake!
- Olive oil makes the cake very tender and moist.
- You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla paste (1:1) in this recipe.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
💡 Baking Tip
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
How to Make Delicious Orange Olive Oil Cake
Step 1: Spray and line 9-inch cake pan. In your mixing bowl, massage orange zest and sugar until fragrant. Add ¼ cup of this into your cake pan, making sure to coat the bottom and sides as best as possible.
Step 2: To the remaining orange-infused sugar, whip in eggs until smooth. Add in olive oil (half at a time) and vanilla, mixing until smooth again. Mix in orange juice.
Step 3: Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. Start and finish with the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is fully incorporated. Transfer to cake pan.
Step 4: Bake cake at 350°F/177°C for about 60 minutes, or until cake is a deep golden brown, center is firm to the touch, and cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then flip out onto wire rack to fully cool. The outer sugar layer will be wet, but will crystallize as it cools. Decorate as you wish and enjoy!
For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
“It’s SO moist. The orange sugar crust is so good.” – taste tester
Orange Olive Oil Cake FAQs
Make sure to sift and slowly add in your dry ingredients into the batter. This removes any large flour clumps.
This olive oil can can last at room temperature (in an airtight container or plastic wrapped) for up 4 days. See my storage instructions for more information.
Storage
I recommend either plastic wrapping the entire cake or individual cake slices. You can also place the cake in an airtight container.
- Room temperature: Store cooled olive oil cake at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cake for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
🧡 More Fruity Desserts
Did you try this recipe?
Please leave a review & share it with me on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, or Pinterest!
Thank you so much! -Bianca ❤️
📖 Recipe & Video
Orange Olive Oil Cake
✉️ want to save this?
enter your email and i’ll send it directly to your inbox! & as a bonus, you’ll get new recipes & resources sent to you every month. 💛
Equipment
- Kitchen scale or measuring cups
- 9-inch cake pan at least 2 inches deep, otherwise the cake will overflow!
- Parchment Paper
- medium mixing bowl for dry ingredients
- large mixing bowl for cake batter
- hand whisk
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons (7.5 g) fine sea salt or table salt
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) orange zest from 2 small oranges
- 3 (3) large eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla paste or extract
- 1 ¼ cups (270 g) extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup (82.67 g) orange juice boxed or from 1-2 small oranges
- 1 ¼ cups (305 g) whole milk
For decorating:
- powdered sugar
- candy melts orange and green; can also dye white chocolate with oil-based food coloring
- orange slices
Instructions
Make the orange olive oil cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C. Spray a 9-inch cake pan (at least 2 inches deep) with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 ¼ teaspoons fine sea salt, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon baking soda.
- In a large bowl, massage 2 cups granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons orange zest until fragrant. Add ¼ cup of this mixture to coat the bottom and sides of cake pan.
- To the remaining orange-infused sugar, whisk in 3 large eggs until smooth.
- Add 1 tablespoon vanilla and half of the olive oil. Mix until smooth, then whisk in the remaining oil. Whisk in ⅓ cup orange juice.
- Now, you will alternate between the dry ingredients and milk. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl!: Sift and mix in a third of the dry ingredients. Whisk in half of the whole milk. Sift and mix in another third of the dries, then mix in remaining milk. Sift in the last of the dry ingredients. The mixture should be smooth and clump-free.(Tip: If the batter is clumpy, try to break any clumps against the bowl with a silicone spatula. You can also try passing the batter through the sifter, right into your cake pan.)
- Transfer batter to cake pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until cake is a deep golden brown, center is firm to the touch, and cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then flip out onto wire rack to fully cool. The outer orange sugar layer will be wet, but will crystallize & harden as it cools.
Decorate (optional):
- Sift powdered sugar on top.
- Melt candy melts in microwave, then transfer to piping bags. Draw on oranges or design of choice.
- Garnish with orange slices. Enjoy!
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- Room temperature: Store cooled olive oil cake at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cake for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
Disclaimer: This recipe was developed for a paid partnership on Instagram & TikTok with Florida’s Natural. This recipe is also an adaptation of Maialino’s orange olive oil cake.