Do you love olive oil cakes and are looking for a new flavor to try?
Welcome, friend. I’m Alessia, the writer and founder behind Italy with an Italian.
I have a soft spot for olive oil cakes — not just for their tender, moist crumb, but also for their beautifully simple loaf shape. That said, if you prefer your cakes round (or in any other shape), this recipe works just as wonderfully.
Today, I’m making a bright and fragrant orange olive oil cake with yogurt. Like most of my olive oil cakes, this one is based on my Italian nonna’s classic cake recipe — a true staple in my kitchen.
To make it even more fun (and delicious), I’ll also show you two easy ways to finish your orange cake. They’re all simple to make, so feel free to pick your favorite… or try both.
Let’s get baking.
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Table of Contents
What’s To Love About This Orange Olive Oil Cake?
If you are not sure on whether to bake your orange olive oil cake, or pick another flavor, let me tell you what makes this cake special.
1. Tried and tested recipe base.
All my olive oil cakes start with the same base recipe, my beloved nonna’s Concetta cake recipe. It’s the same one she used when she taught me to bake the best homemade cakes. This cake is extra moist, so don’t worry if it comes out with a fondant, fudgy crumb rather than a dry, fluffy one. It’s similar in texture to a mud cake. If you prefer a drier, more traditional loaf-cake texture, I’ll also share adjusted ingredient ratios to help you achieve that.
2. It has a beautiful balanced citrusy taste.
The orange gives the already fantastic recipe an edge. It tastes fresh and vibrant while also being balanced and elegant. It’s a nice change, if you are used to baking vanilla or chocolate cakes. It’s great for Winter because you are getting more vitamin C in the form of a treat, but it’s also perfect for Spring, when we start craving those citrus flavors.
3. It is a very versatile recipe that can be easily elevated for a special occasion.
If you like this recipe, you can make it on repeat, alternating between the different variations I will share with you. One includes chocolate chips, while the other honey and almonds.
4. An easy recipe that everyone can make.
If you are a beginner looking for a good olive oil cake recipe that’s simple to bake, try this one. It won’t disappoint! Because it uses few ingredients, and it comes together all in one bowl, you won’t be flustered.
5. This cake stays moist and fresh for days.
Like all my other olive oil cakes, this one too is super moist and stores beautifully for multiple days. I will share more details about how to store it later on.
Orange Olive Oil Cake Ingredients
Oranges – Of course, we can’t have an orange cake without oranges! This recipe combines both the juice and zest of the oranges to give the final cake deeper orange notes for a more intense fragrant aroma. The best part is that because we are using fresh oranges, as opposed to essence, the result tastes natural and balanced, as opposed to artificial and sickly.
I am using one blood orange and one regular one, but you can use a different combination.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – All my Italian olive oil cakes are baked with Italian extra virgin olive oil, as opposed to just olive oil.
If you don’t know the key difference between the two, let me explain it simply. Extra virgin olive oil is pure and unrefined — just olive juice extracted cold without further processing. On the other hand, regular olive oil is a processed, refined blend that uses heat and mixes lower quality olive oils.
Eggs – This cake is not vegan, so I am using eggs. However, if you happen to be vegan, or would like to share the recipe with a vegan or egg intolerant friend, I will suggest a vegan variation later on.
Greek Yogurt – My nonna always used Greek yogurt in her cakes. I believe she got this hack from an Italian TV show she used to watch back then. I tried the recipe both with regular yogurt and dairy free, and I can say that the dairy option definitely works the best here. It adds to the moistness and fluffiness of the cake.
Flour – Most of my olive oil cakes use Barilla 00 flour. However, I also plan to test Caputo’s Pastry Flour to see if this makes a difference in the moistness and softness of my cakes.
Sugar – Although I don’t like using too much sugar in my cakes, sugar is fundamental to give it a delicious taste but also contributes to a softer and lighter crumb. Coconut sugar gives me the right balance of sweetness and moistness, while being a healthier alternative to white sugar.
Feel free to replace it with brown sugar or white sugar. In case you didn’t know, brown sugar is not healthier than white sugar. The only difference is that it tastes more caramelly and tends to add more moistness than white sugar.
Salt – Nearly every bake needs that little pinch of salt to do the magic, so don’t forget to use it.
Baking Mix – Finally, but certainly not least, is my secret Italian baking mix. It’s the same one my nonna Concetta used, and it’s a truly special ingredient that adds not only raising power to your cakes but also a beautiful vanilla taste. The latter is subtle, which makes it safe to use in all your sweet bakes, even those that don’t have a vanilla flavor. If you’d like to try it, you can find it online using my link.
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Exact Quantities:
Now that I have talked you through all the essential ingredients to make the orange olive oil cake, let me share the exact measurements.
I will list the ingredients for the toppings separately, not to confuse you.
For your ease of reference, I will be listing the ingredients in the same order I will be using them in the steps below.
As I promised, I will also give you adjusted ratios for the yogurt and oil, in case you prefer a dryer cake crumb. Those will be listed in brackets.
Wet ingredients (mix these in bowl 1)
- 2 eggs
- 100 gr coconut sugar (a little more than ⅔ cup)
- juice of 1 large orange (preferably blood orange)
- 1 container plain Greek yogurt (use half for a dryer cake crumb, 75gr)
- 70 ml evoo (use 50 ml for a dryer cake crumb)
Dry ingredients (mix these in bowl 2)
- 250 gr 00 flour (start with 200 gr) – total 2 cups but start with 1.6 cup
- 1 sachet Italian baking mix (or 2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda)
- pinch salt
- zest of 2 large oranges
Optional ingredients:
- Chopped dark chocolate (optional for filling)
- Powdered sugar (optional for finishing)
- Local honey (optional for glaze)
- The juice of half an orange (optional for glaze)
- Flaked almonds (optional for topping)
Equipment Needed
- 2 large bowls
- 1 electric handheld mixer (I use this one)
- 1 spatula
- A few tablespoons
- A citrus juicer of your choice
- A knife
- 1 baking dish (regular loaf pan size of 9×5 inches)
- baking paper
- 1 poking stick
How To Make This Italian Orange Olive Oil Cake
Once you’ve gathered all the ingredients, making the recipe is really easy. Let me show you.
I have grouped my recipe steps images to make it easier for you to visualise the process before you get started. I hope this helps!
For ease of reference, I have also separated the wet and dry ingredients, so you know which goes where at first glance.
Mix your wet ingredients:
Crack your eggs into bowl one. It’s best if this bowl is the largest of the two, since we will be combining the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
Next, add the sugar and mix with your electric hand mixer. I use this Kenwood one; it has served me well for over seven years.
Juice your orange and add it to the same bowl. Mix again.
Then, add the Greek yogurt and mix again, always using your electric mixer.
It’s time to add your extra virgin olive oil, and mix the wet ingredients one more time with your electric whisk.
Mix your dry ingredients:
Set the wet ingredients aside for a few minutes, while you work on the dry ones.
Take your second bowl, completely clean and empty, and mix all the flour, salt and baking mix together.
Combine the dry with the wet ingredients:
Add your flour mix into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Do it gradually, into three parts, mixing with the hand mixer after each time.
Finally, grate the zest of your orange into a separate bowl and add it into your orange cake batter, mixing it in with a spatula. This way, you are sure that no piece sticks to your electric whisk. After all, every little piece counts.
Optional: If you’d like to add chocolate chips, or maybe some almonds inside your cake, now is the time to do it. Alternatively, you can do like me and add big dark chocolate squares inside your dish.
Preheat the Oven and Pour the batter into your baking dish:
First things first, turn your oven on. I use a 3D setting, heat it up for 15 minutes at 180 °C or 350 °F.
Next, line or grease your baking dish with parchment paper, or butter and flour. I prefer the first option.
Finally, you can pour the batter into your dish.
Bake your orange cake:
Bake it at 180 °C or 350 °F for 1 hour, or until a poking stick comes out clean.
If you split the cakes into two smaller loaves, which is what I did, you can bake them for 45 minutes instead of 1 hour.
Another important thing is to bake it at the lower level of your oven, to retain moistness and avoid the cake from browning too much on top.
My final tip to prevent browning is to submerge all the chocolate chips, if you choose to add them. Chocolate on the surface of the cake tends to burn easily, and make the cake drier on top.
How To Finish & Serve Your Orange Olive Oil Cake
It’s important you choose the way you want to finish your cake before you start baking. That way, you can gather all the necessary ingredients for the topping, and start preparing it while the cake is in the oven.
Here are my favorite options to finish this cake.
1. Dark chocolate squares and powdered sugar.
If you have added chocolate chips or squares, the easiest and very delicious way to serve your cake is to simply dust it with powdered sugar. This also works with white or milk chocolate.
I like to use this creamy chocolate because that helps retain extra gooiness.
All you have to do is take a small sieve, and use one teaspoon of powdered sugar at a time, adding it through the sieve and moving around the top of the cake, so that the sugar gets spread all over the cake.
2. Honey orange glaze with flaked almonds.
For this one, you can add the flaked almonds inside the cake too, if you’d like. I prefer to add them only as a topping.
Once the cake comes out, remove it from the baking dish. Then, add the glaze and top with the flaked almonds. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing it.
To make the glaze you simply mix the juice of half an orange with 3 tablespoons of honey.
You can also simply glaze the cake with some local honey.
How To Store Your Italian Orange Cake
I suggest storing your cake on the counter, covered with a clean tea towel. Of course, make sure to wait for the cake to cool down and the glaze to dry before you wrap the towel around it.
It should last up to 4 days, maybe even longer. I prefer to consume it within three days, and it usually doesn’t last that long!
You can also store your cake in the fridge, especially if you opt to make the extra moist version of this recipe, which has a wetter crumb. However, be aware that refrigerating your cake will inevitably dry it out. You can reheat it in the microwave, one slice at a time, before serving it.
That’s all for this beautiful zesty orange cake. I hope you try it and love it as much as I do.
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Try My Other Olive Oil Cakes
Whether you love baking most of your cakes with olive oil, or you are just getting into swapping butter for oil, here are my other scrumptious Italian olive oil cakes for you to try.
Chocolate Olive Oil Cake With Chocolate Glaze
Moist & Healthy Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips
Pumpkin Bread With Olive Oil & Crunchy Streusel
There are many more coming, so I suggest you bookmark this blog and pin it on Pinterest too.
If you would like to support me, I’d love it if you gave this recipe a heart and shared it with a friend. Thank you so much!
A presto,
Alessia
