Cardamom Spiced Orange Olive Oil Cake
This Orange Olive Oil Cake is scented with warming cardamom and cinnamon and SUPER moist! It’s baked with Greek yogurt and honey, and it’s dense – almost like a pound cake. AND it contains no refined sugar!
Once you’ve tried baking with olive oil, you may never go back. The Greeks and Italians have been doing it for a while, and the trend is catching on here as well, especially as the Mediterranean Diet gains popularity.
This cake is so much more guilt-free than many others. Yes, olive oil is still a fat, and yes, honey is still sugar, but it’s a lot healthier than other cakes made with vegetable oils and sugar.
Don’t worry- it doesn’t TASTE healthy. It tastes AMAZING. It’s moist and rich and the flavor combination of fresh orange with warm cardamom and cinnamon is out of this world (and these flavors go well with the earthy, nutty flavor of extra-virgin olive oil).
And it makes your house smell SO GOOD while it cooks!
Olive oil cake is often made with lemon. I wanted a more festive cake for the holiday season, so I used orange instead.
If you want, you can use this base recipe with whatever citrus you want- lemon, lime, even grapefruit!
And if you aren’t feeling the warm spices vibe, or aren’t a fan of cardamom, feel free to leave it out for a more simple version of this olive oil cake.
The best part about this orange olive oil cake is the frosting. That’s because there IS NO FROSTING.
A simple dusting of powdered sugar, with a little bit of extra orange zest, was all I added to top this cake off. You really don’t need anything else- the cake’s flavors are complex enough.
Although, if I were making this in a bundt pan, I may whip up an orange and honey glaze to pour on top. Maybe next time.
I did, however, serve the sliced cake with an extra drizzle of honey on top. Yum, yum. Delicious AND pretty.
Cardamom has a very potent flavor, so you have to be careful to not add too much, otherwise it may taste a bit soapy. I used 1/2 teaspoon, but if you only like a teeny bit of cardamom flavor, you can try just 1/4 teaspoon.
Cardamom always reminds me of the holidays, since my family has made Norwegian Waffles on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember. They’re flavored with cardamom, and they’re super dense and moist, unlike other waffles you may be used to.
Actually, they’re a LOT like this cake!
I might need to start a new tradition and make this orange olive oil cake for breakfast on Christmas morning instead. It sure is easier than dragging out a waffle maker (and it’s Christmas, so cake for breakfast is acceptable, right?).
If you like this Cardamom Spiced Orange Olive Oil Cake recipe, you’ll love these other desserts made with oil: Spicy Gingerbread Cake with Orange Mascarpone Cream, and Chai Spiced Pumpkin Bread.
Other baked goods with olive oil:
Be sure to check out all my Holiday Baking Recipes, including this yummy Dutch Butter Cake!
Cardamom Spiced Orange Olive Oil Cake
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Ingredients
- 3/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil plus more for coating the pan
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest from about 1 naval orange
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice from about 1 naval orange
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting
- extra honey and orange zest for serving optional
Instructions
- Line a 9" circular cake pan with parchment paper (I use a pencil to trace an outline of the bottom of the pan on the paper, then cut slightly inside the line) and grease generously with olive oil, under and over the parchment paper and up the sides of the pan. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and place an oven rack in the top third of the oven.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil (3/4 cup), orange zest (1 teaspoon), orange juice (1/4 cup), honey (3/4 cup), three eggs, Greek yogurt (1 cup), ground cardamom (1/2 teaspoon), ground cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon), kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon), baking powder (1/2 teaspoon), and baking soda (1/2 teaspoon).
- Add the flour (1 1/2 cups) and whisk until well-combined.
- Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake at 325 degrees F in the top third of the oven for 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of the cake comes out clean (see notes).
- Allow to cool in pan on cooling rack for at least 10 minutes. Run knife along the edge to loosen and flip onto a cutting board to remove, then flip back over onto the serving dish.
- Dust with confectioners’ sugar through a sifter or by placing it in a mesh sieve and tapping it.
- Slice into 8 pieces. Serve warm or at room temperature, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with extra orange zest, if desired.
Notes
- This cake is dense and very moist. Some readers have noted that theirs did not cook all the way in the middle. This recipe may have varied results if you are at a higher elevation, if you use a different size cake pan, if your yogurt is particularly watery or lower in fat, your oven temp, or even depending on brand of flour. If yours seems like it’s not cooking in the middle after 70 minutes or so, I recommend tenting with foil, so the top of the cake doesn’t burn, and turning the temperature of your oven up to 350 degrees F until it’s cooked.
- This cake can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for about three days. For best results, dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving. Otherwise, it will disintegrate into the moisture of the cake.
- Leftovers can be frozen and stored in an airtight bag or wrapped tightly in plastic for up to 3 months.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This is my fourth time making this cake. It bakes up well every time, with the only issue being that the top might get a little darker than I’d like it to at times. It’s absolutely delicious and very easy. I also like that it uses Greek yogurt and honey instead of refined sugar. Will definitely continue to make it!
So glad you liked it!
This is a dense and flavorful cake. And the leftovers were delicious. I had no trouble with it rising and it was finished in 45 minutes at 325F.
So glad you liked it, and glad you had no trouble with baking it!
The proportions in this recipe feel off. It took quite a while to bake and the end result was kindoff stodgy and extremely greasy. I bake quite often and don’t usually have these issues, so I don’t think it’s my oven or baking powder. Maybe it only works with American flour (I’m in Europe)? Or maybe my way of measuring cup of flour compacts it less (I hate cup measurements for exactly this reason; they are so imprecise). Either way it doesn’t seem like a very reliable/forgiving recipe.
Thanks for this feedback – you aren’t the fist person to say this! I’ve tested it multiple times and it always comes out fine (it does take a while to bake and it’s quite dense and moist, but it does bake up appropriately). I’ve cross-checked it with other similar recipes and they have similar proportions. You bring up a great point about European flour vs. American! I wonder if using a strong flour/bread making flour might help in this case in Europe, since it is a bit more absorbent? Measuring with weight may help too, I’ll be sure to test that next time I make it. I’m hoping we can all figure out a solid answer to this soon, and I’ll also say that adding a little more flour to the mix shouldn’t hurt anything so if you go for it a second time around (or if anyone else is concerned) maybe add another 2 tablespoons or so of flour to see if that helps. Thanks again for chiming in!
i’m an amateur baker but this looks pretty straight forward. is there a chocolate chip version?
I personally think there’s a lot going on already in this cake and adding chocolate chips may be a bit much. Maybe try this lemon olive oil cake and adding chocolate chips to that? It’s a little simpler. https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/lemon-olive-oil-cake/
Sadly, this cake came out gummy and dense – like the eggy portion of bread pudding. I had such high hopes for this cake, but it was not very flavorful – the cardamon (it was a brand-new bottle) and extra orange zest that I added hardly came through. Yes, this cake was VERY moist (and not under cooked), but too moist to be enjoyable – in my opinion. I love Bowl of Delicious recipes usually, but this one was a bummer for me. I will continue to use Elizabeth’s other recipes, but just not this one.
Oh no! That must have been frustrating for it to not come out the way you hoped. I do plan on troubleshooting this recipe and tweaking it a bit. In the meantime, I can speak to the gummy and dense texture – I do wonder if it was an issue of the baking powder not being fresh, which can affect a recipe quite a bit (it’s often not good past a year of opening it). The texture of this cake IS dense and moist, but shouldn’t have an undercooked dense texture. That would be my best advice for troubleshooting this problem. Thanks so much for your kind words about my recipes, and when I revisit this recipe I’ll follow up!
Thank you so much for getting back to me with your very informative comments. Indeed, the baking powder was older than a year, but I’ve been using in other recipes and hadn’t noticed such flat results. I will definitely run out and buy new baking powder and continue to try your very, very tasty recipes! Thank you so much!
Have you ever baked this recipe as cupcakes? I think an orange flavered, lightly sweetened whipped cream would be a good topping vs. icing
Cook it for breakfast in the waffle maker!
I haven’t, but that sounds delicious! I’d love to know how it turns out if you try it!
This is the first time I’ve ever made an olive oil cake. I watch a lot of cooking competition shows and have seen people make it and have been very interested. I made this to take to a dinner party and was a little nervous since I had no idea how it would turn out, or even what it tasted like. I’m happy to say it was delicious. The only thing I did different is I made a glaze with orange juice, orange zest, and powdered sugar and put it on the side for people to drizzle over their cake. Everyone loved it it was delicious
So glad you, and everyone, liked it!
Just tried this cake today and it was very good! It baked about 40 minutes and was done. (Just got a new oven and I think it may bake a little hot; I need to get an oven thermometer and test it.) I stole an idea from one of the reviews below who put thinly sliced orange slices in the bottom of her cupcake pans. I did this in the bottom of the cake pan and it turned out great! I think it made the cake slightly more moist. After baking and cooling, I just turned it out upside down on a plate and dusted powdered sugar over it.
Thank you for this great recipe!
So glad you liked it, and I’m definitely going to try the sliced oranges on the bottom next time I make it!