I’ve been meaning to make this cake for probably about a year now. It popped up on my feed last year and it just sounded too good not to make. I figured, after a year of having it on my list, a new job is as good a reason as any to finally make it! Something about the citrus olive oil cake was very appealing and unique, and the brown butter of course sounded delicious. I have enjoyed olive-oil-centered bakes in the past, and I know that olive oil and lemon is a great pairing because it worked very well in this ice cream. Anyways, as I’ve been assuming it would for the past year, this cake was excellent.
I made this one as just a 6-inch, one-layer cake, and it’s the perfect size! As I said in a previous post, there’s a few cake occasions coming up in the next month, so I didn’t want to make a whole giant cake that would take a week or more to eat. This cake could be eaten in one night by a 5-6 person group, or a few nights by a 1-3 person group.
This cake is just about as moist as they come. The olive oil doesn’t come through as a strong flavor, but you can also definitely tell it’s there. The lemon and orange really shine through, and work together pretty well to make it more complex than if there were just one of them. And the brown butter frosting lends a nice nuttiness to round it all out! It all just works together very well.
The M&M’s I used to decorate admittedly don’t really fit the flavor. But it’s nearly time for those May Flowers after April Showers, and I saw the idea on the internet and wanted to recreate it!
I think it’s a fun way to decorate a cake! A good way to put to use all those various spring candies that go on sale for Easter.
I highly recommend this citrus olive oil cake for any and all occasions. It would be perfect for a little Kaffee und Kuchen in the afternoon, as a little snack cake! It also goes very well with this no-churn lemon ice cream, if you really want a treat!
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PinIngredients
Olive Oil Cake
- 3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil*
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp whole milk
- zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- zest of 1 medium orange
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Brown Butter Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1–2 Tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream, plus more as needed
Instructions
Olive Oil Cake
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Generously grease a 6-inch pan on the bottom and sides. Line the bottom of the pan with a 6-inch round of parchment paper and grease again. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, combine the olive oil and eggs until smooth. Add the milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, orange zest, and sugar and combine again until smooth.
3. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to the olive oil mixture all at once, and combine, still with your whisk attachment, until ingredients are just barely incorporated. Do not overmix. Remove bowl from stand mixer and use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl and make sure all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Place the springform pan directly on a cookie sheet, pour the batter into the prepared springform pan, and bake in the oven for 70-80 minutes. The cake will be done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. If the toothpick is wet in the center, continue baking for 5-minute increments until done. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
Brown Butter Frosting
1. Warm a medium-sized saucepan to medium heat and add butter. Once the butter has completely melted, allow it to brown, stirring frequently and gently scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula. The butter will foam and sizzle as brown specks appear on the bottom of the pan. When the aroma of the pan is nutty and the bottom of the pan is a toasty-brown color remove from heat and let cool completely.
2. Once the butter is completely cooled, beat the butter and sugar together; first on low speed, then increasing as the two ingredients become incorporated. Add the vanilla, salt, and milk, and continue to beat until smooth. If the frosting is still too thick, add more milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved.
Assembly
1. Once the cake is completely cooled and the frosting is made, assemble your cake. Use a butter knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan if needed. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake and place on a cake stand.
2. Frost the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of frosting using an icing spatula. Set in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to allow the base coat or “crumb coat” to set. Take out of the fridge and add remaining frosting, gently scraping the side of the cake with a bench scraper or cake scraper for a clean edge. Using the edge of your icing spatula, create a simple swirl on the top of the cake by gently pressing the spatula into the frosting while turning the cake in a circular motion, moving the spatula from the edge of the cake, slowly toward the center as the cake rotates.
3. Decorate as desired!
Notes
Cake from Female Foodie