Citrus Olive Oil Cake
This tender olive oil cake recipe is infused with fresh citrus flavor. Find my go-to recipe, plus tips on how to change it up! Recipe yields 1 loaf cake.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Here’s the paradox of producing a healthy cookbook: the stress of it leads to cravings for all kinds of not-so-healthy things. Like, mac and cheese. Pizza, delivered. Spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream. Those chocolate coconut almonds from Trader Joe’s (have you tried them?!). I’m only human.
I’m in the thick of recipe writing now, and it’s tedious work. I think and re-think how to structure each recipe so it’s easy to understand. I wonder how much detail to include—will this tip help you along, or just complicate matters?
Such as, do you need to know the weight of apples used in a salad? (Leaning toward no.) Do I tell you how to toast the nuts in every recipe that calls for toasted nuts? (Leaning toward yes.) How do I best explain how to shape veggie burgers to someone who hasn’t made them before? So on and so forth.
I’m so in love with the recipes, though. I have 100 sweet little recipe babies, and I’m struggling to keep them all to myself until next spring. They’re also keeping me from spending as much time here as I’d like. Please forgive me if I’m slow to answer your comments—they’re so important to me, and it’s killing me that I can’t get to each one.
I decided to indulge my sugar craving with a citrusy winter cake. This olive oil cake has made a couple of appearances on the blog already (orange poppy seed and lemon blueberry), and it’s always tender, light and complex in flavor. This time, it’s a pretty pink blood orange cake with blood orange icing.
The only problem is that blood oranges don’t have a ton of flavor compared to other citrus, so it’s not as intensely citrusy as the pink frosting would suggest. The lemon and regular orange versions definitely pack more of a punch, so I thought I would present this cake as a design-your-own olive oil cake with tips on how to change it up. You can use any crazy variety of winter citrus you can find!
Citrus Olive Oil Cake Tips
Use any variety of citrus here. The stronger the citrus flavor, the more it will shine through in the cake. You could use this recipe to make a lemon, orange (maybe Cara Cara?), lime (or key lime), grapefruit or clementine cake. Hell, you could probably make a kumquat cake if you really want to juice a bunch of kumquats. Keep in mind that the smaller the fruit, the more you will need for zesting and juicing.
Health note: Kristen, a registered nurse, informed me that blood oranges can have the same harmful interaction with medications that grapefruit can, so if you know you need to avoid grapefruit, please also avoid blood oranges!
Add mix-ins, if you’d like. I’ve added poppy seeds (up to 1/3 cup) before, or fresh or frozen blueberries (1 cup, tossed in flour to prevent them from sinking). I imagine that an equal amount of other small berries or sliced fruit would be great. I wish I had thought to add small segments of blood orange to this cake like Melissa Clark did here.
Top with glaze, if you’d like. This cake is lightly sweet and full of flavor as is. You can infuse it with even more fresh citrus flavor by brushing the warm cake with lightly sweetened citrus juice, like I did for my blueberry cake. (In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons citrus juice and 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup—you might need to warm the mixture to get the honey to incorporate.)
Or, you can top it with a thicker glaze made with powdered sugar, like I did here (see recipe below). Whether you glaze or not, another option would be to layer candied citrus on top like Tessa did on this gorgeous pavlova.
Serve with or without accompaniments. I like slices as is, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, plain yogurt or whipped cream.
More Homemade Cakes to Make
Like this recipe, these homemade cake recipes are simple and delightful. Browse all cake recipes here.
- Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake
- Favorite Banana Cake
- Gluten-Free Almond Cake with Berries on Top
- Orange Poppy Seed Pound Cake
- Simple Blueberry Cake
Citrus Olive Oil Cake
This tender olive oil cake recipe is infused with fresh citrus flavor. This cake is really easy to make (no mixer required). I used blood orange here, but feel free to use lemon, orange or any fresh citrus fruit you’d like (see tips on how to change up this recipe above). Recipe yields 1 loaf cake.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons citrus zest (I used 2 blood oranges here)
- ¼ cup fresh citrus juice
- 1 cup sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
- ¾ cup plain whole-milk yogurt
- 3 eggs
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Glaze (optional, see other ideas above recipe)
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar (here’s how to make your own)
- 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh citrus juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Generously butter and flour an 8½ by 4¼-inch loaf pan. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Pour the sugar into another medium-sized mixing bowl. Use a Microplane to grate 2 teaspoons zest from your fresh citrus fruits and add it to the bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar takes on the color and fragrance of the citrus.
- In a liquid measuring cup, measure out ¾ cup yogurt and squeeze in about ¼ cup citrus juice to yield 1 cup total liquid. Whisk the yogurt and juice, eggs and vanilla into the sugar mixture until well blended.
- Gently whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until incorporated. Switch to a spatula and fold in the oil, making sure it’s all incorporated. The batter will be shiny. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the top is golden and the sides start to pull away from the sides of the pan; a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the sides of the pan to loosen. Unmold the cake by placing a large plate upside down over the loaf pan and carefully turning them over. Carefully flip the cake back over and let it cool to room temperature.
- To make the glaze (optional): Measure the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in just enough blood orange juice to make a thick glaze that drizzles easily off your whisk when lifted. Drizzle the glaze back and forth over the cake. The glaze will need about 15 minutes to set, then it’s ready to slice and serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Orange Poppy Seed Pound Cake and Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake.
Make it vegan: Readers report that flax eggs work well in place of the eggs in this recipe, and non-dairy coconut yogurt should work. Please let me know if you give that a try!
Storage suggestions: This cake keeps well at room temperature for a couple of days, a few days longer in the refrigerator, or up to a few months in the freezer.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This cake looks so lovely. And I adore the photos with the shadows – just gorgeous!
I love the pretty pink color and the fact that I could customize this with any sort of citrus.
There have been a lot of blood orange cakes circling the blogosphere this winter, but this one looks like a winner :)
This looks beautiful! I love using olive oil in cakes, it gives the most lovely texture and taste – will have to try this one out!
Looks so delicious! Can’t wait to try this out! Best of luck with your recipe writing :D
Thank you so much, Kate!
Kate,
I discovered your amazing blog about a week ago. I have spent way too much time reading your recipes! I especially like that it’s not exotic, requiring one to drive all over town looking for glazed nasturtium blossoms and it’s not all pink and cutesy, either. Your ingredients are in a reasonable price range, too. I cannot wait for your cookbook! And I must mention that Cookie is the most adorable creature on the planet. I’m a devoted fan!
Anne
Absolutely gorgeous shots. And the cake looks like a beautiful texture. Saving this for when citrus is in full swing here is Aus.
You dog is just so beautiful !! And the cake looks yummy too!
Thank you, Dianne! I tell her she’s pretty every day. :)
I’m loving the blood orange icing. Natural food coloring is the best!
Love this post! I can only imagine how crazy it is to write a cookbook! I definitely would fall victim to take-out and anything chocolate covered:) haha.
Love love love the photography here! I’m very jealous actually, because whenever I try to shoot with that same sunlight effect it never works out for me… Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to keep gazing at that fluffy cake and beautifully coloured icing for a little while longer ;)
Thanks, Rosie! I’m trying to learn how to use the morning light in my living room so I played around with it. The light was awfully harsh in spots, so I’ll have to hang some sheer curtains to gain more control over it. You can do it!!!
This cake looks delicious, and that picture of Cookie is super adorbs! <3
love the combo of olive oil and citrus together…oh yum yum yum
This looks just lovely! A great recipe for spring with a nice cup of tea, yum!
Powering through the healthy cookbook must be hard. But this is worth the indulging, I’m sure. It looks so delicious. I love desserts like this that seem like the perfect amount of sweetness.
Thanks, Aimee! I’m looking forward to the finish line, for sure!
I can not wait to make this cake! I made your blueberry cake and it was so yummy!
The blood oranges are so great, but I do like that this is a “pick your own olive oil cake” adventure
Thanks, Gaby!
Mmm cake – I really need to try making an olive oil cake – it looks really tasty.
This looks delicious, and that glaze… well you have to make the glaze!
TJ’s chocolate covered almonds just get me! They are my weakness, as are the ones that are covered in chocolate and toffee. Yum. This cake! So pretty :)
I made this yesterday with a grapefruit and sooooo good! I used about 2 tablespoons of zest, though, as grapefruit isn’t quite the powerhouse of other citrus. Delicious! Next time, I’ll try the lemon and blueberry. Or orange and cranberry. Or espresso and chocolate (mixing cocoa with some batter for a marble effect). Or lime and tequila. Maybe lime and cilantro? Eventually, I’ll likely try “olive” of ‘me. (See what I did there?) Thanks Kate – you’re the best!
Haha! Love it. So glad your grapefruit came out well. Love all of your ideas, Rose!
I totally get what you mean about re-thinking every recipe – and testers make this better (but also harder in ways!). I don’t want to overload people with information – but also can’t decide if its super helpful to include!
This cake is gorgeous!!!! Love that glaze.
Love this cake! I made it with lemons and chia seeds. I used coconut sugar and whole wheat flour. Delicious! I love the picture of Cookie!! :-)
Thanks, Linda! I wouldn’t have thought to add chia seeds.
I think your instincts for what to include or not to include are spot on. I know your cookbook will be fantastic, just like your blog.
This cake looks delicious, by the way.
Thank you so much, Danica!
Oh la la, just after dinner and wish I could just reach for a slice! I love cooking but somehow baking have taken a step back the last years. Well, now I have a great recipe to try :)
I made this last night and used whole wheat pastry flour, zest from a lemon and mandarin and juice from the lemon and a tangelo, plus I added some poppy seeds and extra vanilla. My husband and I love it so much I had to bring it into the office to share so we wouldn’t devour it all.
Thank you, Suzanne! Your version sounds incredible.
Can this cake be made with less sugar or with honey? Please let me know. I would love to make it but I need to lower the amount of sugar. Thank you for your help. Daniela
I suspect you could reduce the sugar by half, but the cake won’t be as sweet. I didn’t have the best luck trying with honey. You might like this honey almond cake, which you could add citrus zest to.
Gorgeous cake, I love the pretty pink glaze!
I LOVE olive oil cake!! And that citrus glaze looks to die for :D
I made this with a grapefruit last night, and it was very good! There are so many olive oil cake recipes out there right now, so I read several versions before starting. I ended up using yours as the template though, because as always, your directions were meticulously clear. Oh, and we were out of eggs, so I used flax eggs for the binding and a tiny bit more baking powder for leavening. So there’s the vegan variation, should anyone need it.
Really, not vegan, still used yogurt. Eggless anyway :)
What kind of vegan egg did you use?
Grey said flax eggs work.
Thank you, Grey! Glad to know that flax eggs worked well for you.
Made this last night with navel oranges and added dark chocolate nibs…left off the icing. It was so delicious! You’re recipes are my family’s favorites!
Orange and chocolate sounds fantastic! Thanks, Tina!
This looks gorgeous, so pretty in pink! And the picture with Cookie as a princess in that chair is so sweet :)
Writing a cookbook sounds really quite stressful indeed, especially when you also have a blog to run. But I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it! This is my go-to blog for dinners and many friends who don’t even eat vegetarian loved the food and didn’t miss the meat at all. I’m really excited there’ll be a cookbook, too, and I hope you also have a blast putting your baby together. And in the meantime, I’m glad to see you’re still posting several times a week, and that you keep us updated with the cookbook journey, because I find it really interesting to read how it’s all coming along. I’m sure you’ll make a stellar book out of it, can’t wait until it’s spring 2017 :)
Thank you, Evelyn! I really can’t tell you how much I appreciate your kind comments. They are much needed right now. :)
This cake looks amazing. And I love a cookbook with lots of weights, fwiw. I think it’s so much easier to cook from weight than from volume.
Thanks, Caryn! I’ll try to include weights as best I can.
This looks SOO fabulous!!! I just picked about 15 pounds of oranges from a local farm today and remembered this recipe you had posted! Do you have any suggestions on how to make this vegan? Thanks so much :)
Hey Keaton, I think you could use a vegan yogurt (coconut?) and flax eggs.
Thank you… I made this yesterday and I could have sat and ate the whole loaf! I used juice from tangelos and lemon zest. I added blueberries as well. It was so moist and lovely… I’m making again tomorrow!
Thank you, Lia! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
IMO you are better off over-explaining in recipes than not providing enough detail about things like toasting nuts
Love your recipes. I do wish that people who have not tried a recipe would comment less and those who have tried it would comment more.
Thanks, Tina! I hear you on the comments… but to be honest, I appreciate every one of them. You’ll usually find more comments from people who have made the recipe near the bottom of the comments section.
I LOVE olive oil in desserts. I was just craving something like this, so you read my mind!
I love that this cake is adaptable — I was just given a huge box of frozen Wild Maine Blueberries– so, I’ll have to try a lemon blueberry combination. (I love that you use whole wheat flour).
I made an olive oil cake once using a recipe form another website and it turned out dry and crumbly. I used your recipe as a base, added blueberries and rosemary, topped it with a light honey/blueberry juice glaze, and it turned out great- not dry at all.
Thank you, Kate! I’ve never been disappointed with a recipe from your website.
Thank you, J! So glad to hear it. :)
I love cakes with citrus fruit and we should make the most of them at this time of year. I love your addition of olive oil so much healthier and lighter too!
This looks so tasty! I gotta make this one soon.
I used oranges from our orange tree in our yard to make this lovely cake. It was wonderfully moist with a good crumb, and got better after sitting out a while. I prefer white flour, so I used only .5 cup whole wheat. I also opted for no glaze. I think next time I’m going to just use white flour, and skip the whole wheat completely.
Thanks, Danica! Have you tried white whole wheat flour? I really can’t taste any “whole wheat” flavor in it, but it has all of the health benefits of whole wheat flour.
Made this with Cara Cara oranges and rosemary infuses olive oil, which is all I had on hand. When it was still warm the rosemary flavor was strong, and it made for a delicious savory flavor. The next day the flavor settled into a sweet citrus cake with a hint of rosemary. Delicious and easy to make! Can’t wait for your cookbook! Love your blog b
Thank you so much, Faith! Your Cara Cara/rosemary cake sounds wonderful.
I am having a love affair with this bread. I never have made bread with olive oil in it and it is simply divine!
I added 1 tsp of chai spice blend to the gaze and it made it incredibly good.
Thank you for sharing this recipe
Thank you, Danica! I’m going to go add that spice blend to my wish list. :)
Hi Kate!
Was wondering how you think this would hold up/unmold as a bundt cake. I have a williams sonoma pan with deep crevices. I would test it myself this week, but I’m on bedrest from a running injury, and won’t be able to try until this weekend- for my sisters bridal shower : )
I guess worst case, it crumbles and I get to eat it all myself!
That picture of Cookie snuggled in the sunlight is killing me
Craving your mushroom quesadillas right now!
Hi Jo! I’m sorry, I missed your comment until now. I hope you’re all better now. Did you try it in a bundt pan? I think it would hold up fine, although I’m not sure about the baking time. My only concern is that you might need more batter to get a proper bundt shape out of it. Some of the recipes I just looked at called for twice as much flour, so you might need to double the whole recipe.
Hi Kate,
This recipe looks and sound amazing! Wondering if you have any suggestions on making a gluten-free version, or if anyone has tried it with success. Thanks in advance!
Hi Lisa, if I remember correctly, I tried a variation on this cake with Trader Joe’s GF flour blend. It was delicate, but it worked—it would have worked better if it had cooked through the middle, so be sure to check that and bake longer if necessary.
Looks great! Can’t wait to try this recipe :)
If I wanted to sub maple syrup for sugar, would that work as well?
Just made this last night! I used a mixture of blood orange and lemon juice, and I added poppy seeds! It turned out delicious. Had my first slice with a scoop of ginger ice cream last night. & I’m eating it with a spoon-full of yogurt and pumpkin seeds for breakfast this morning. Thanks so much Kate!
Cake looks fine, but to be true, I have never seen so dark orange before.. Is that some special orange, couse I have few orange trees of a different kind in my front yard…?
It’s a special orange called a blood orange! You can absolutely use your oranges from your front yard, though!
Just had to try this recipe, I couldn’t even wait to go shopping first so I made do with the two lemons I had lying around. It is soooo moist and delicious! I can’t wait to try it with some beautiful blood oranges!