Olive Oil Cake Inspired By Nigella Lawson

~ Tandy

This recipe for olive oil cake was inspired by Nigella Lawson.

Olive Oil Cake

B-well sent me a bottle of their extra virgin olive oil and canola oil mix to try out. I use olive oil every day for my cooking and canola oil for my mayonnaise and salad dressing. I tried the oil in my mayonnaise but the olive oil taste is far too distinct for my palate. However, I have been using it for my cooking and it is perfect. This therefore is a great addition to my pantry and a product I know I will use more often. Given the high smoke point of the oil it can be used when cooking stir fry’s, and it is healthy to boot. When looking at how good an oil is for you, take a look at the saturated fat value as well as the monounsaturated fat value. B-well oil has a combined value of 64% monounsaturated fats.

Given that I was asked to use the oil in a recipe, and that I have wanted to make an olive oil cake for some time, this seemed like the great way to try out the oil. I could not find a recipe in any of my numerous books and so I turned to the web and found Nigella Lawson’s recipe. I could not imagine that her recipe would be anything but perfect and so I set myself the task of baking this cake at the weekend. It was amazing and you would not know that it had used oil instead of butter in the batter. In fact, I might make more cakes with oil in the future.

Olive Oil Cake with a Cream Cheese Frosting
Olive Oil Cake with a Cream Cheese Frosting
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Olive Oil Cake

Recipe Category: Baking
All Rights Reserved: Adapted from Nigella’s Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

  • 40 g cocoa powder
  • 125 mls boiling water
  • 10 mls vanilla extract
  • 135 g flour
  • 2.5 mls bicarbonate of soda
  • A pinch of salt
  • 160 mls olive oil
  • 185 g caster sugar - I used fructose
  • 3 eggs

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 170° Celsius
  • Grease and line a springform baking tin
  • Sift the cocoa into a small bowl and whisk in the water until smooth
  • Add the vanilla and whisk to mix
  • Set aside to cool
  • Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and mix
  • Place the olive oil, sugar and eggs into the bowl of your stand mixer
  • Using the paddle attachment, cream the mixture until pale and thick
  • Start off on a slow speed and increase to a medium to high setting after 1 minute
  • Lower the speed and pour in the cocoa mixture
  • Mix until completely combined
  • Add the flour a tablespoon at a time, making sure it is completely mixed in after each addition
  • Pour the mixture into your cake tin and bake for 40 minutes
  • Remove from the oven and cool on a cake rack, in the tin for 10 minutes
  • Remove from the tin and carefully remove the baking paper
  • Leave to cool completely before icing

Notes

This cake lasted us 4 days and was perfectly moist. I topped it with a cream cheese frosting

Click on the links for conversions and notes.

Disclosure: I was sent a bottle of B-well oil to use in a recipe. This post is in line with my blogging policy.

Dave and I are away in France and we will be back at work on the 1st of October. I will start replying to blog comments then. You can read our daily diary of our trip by clicking here.

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Published by Tandy

I am passionate about using regional, seasonable and sustainable produce when I cook. I live in Gordons Bay with my husband and dogs. We visit new places locally and overseas as often as we can to experience the food of the area. Follow along on our adventures!

27 thoughts on “Olive Oil Cake Inspired By Nigella Lawson”

  11. Hi Tandy,

    What kind of olive oil do you use? I tried baking with canola oil, but the taste is not good. Bought some sunflower oil, and then I read the recipe for olive oil.

    Thanks

    Reply

    1. I usually use canola oil for everything but this recipe I used the B-Well oil which is a combination of olive oil and canola oil. I would suggest using a mild olive oil to not get too much of an overwhelming taste 🙂

      Reply
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