This Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake is made by infusing olive oil with rosemary along with lemon zest and juice for a light and fluffy cake. The rosemary infused olive oil is simple to make. Just warm olive oil on the stove with a few sprigs of rosemary. The cake is aromatic and bright with subtle hints of herby rosemary, fruity olive oil, and lemon citrus.
Olive oil, lemon, and rosemary are such a great pairing, especially if you’re looking for something a little bit different and nuanced. Using olive oil in a cake rather than butter or vegetable oil still gives you that buttery taste and aroma, but with a much healthier ingredient. You’re getting both the fat and flavor from the oil as well as a super light and fluffy cake.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Dish
Flavor: This cake is packed with flavor: fresh rosemary, fruity olive oil, and bright lemon.
Light and Delicate Crumb: This is a super light and airy cake.
Easy: This cake is easy to make. Olive oil is infused with rosemary simply by warming them up together. Then all the ingredients get tossed together in a bowl, poured into a baking dish, and the cake gets baked for under 30 minutes. Dust the cake with powdered sugar for a super simple, but fancy looking light cake.
Recipe Inspiration
I lived in Barcelona for two years and quickly learned to love olives. They were everywhere, as hors d’oeuvres or tapas at many restaurants, growing on the trees all over the city and on my way to school, and as a staple in so many recipes and meals. I even met with olive oil producers. I love to cook with extra virgin olive oil, and I have wanted to experiment with baking using olive oil for quite some time.
So I made half a dozen different olive oil cakes using different ingredients. This Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil combination in particular is inspired by a Rosemary Focaccia that I love to make, which uses lots of olive oil for a crispy olive oil-infused bread with fresh rosemary (which tastes so much better than using the dried rosemary).
Choosing Olive Oil
It is important to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil in this cake. Extra virgin olive oil is much more flavorful than regular olive oil and imparts a delicate fruity taste to the cake. If you compare extra virgin olive oil with regular olive oil you’ll notice that the extra virgin olive oil is much darker and greener in color. This is because extra virgin olive oil is cold pressed and not heated or treated with any chemicals.
Choose an extra virgin olive oil that you already know that you like, or if you need a starting point, I recommend choosing a Spanish extra virgin olive oil from Trader Joe’s or Costco. Spain is one of the largest olive oil producers in the world. It is typically very high quality, however, Spanish olive oil is not as well marketed in the US as Italian olive oil.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Be sure to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil (not regular or light olive oil)
- Rosemary: Use fresh rosemary sprigs. The fresher the better.
- Milk: Use whole milk only, not reduced fat.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible.
- Lemon Zest: The zest of citrus fruit contains citrus flavor without the acidity that's in the juice. To zest the lemons use the smallest grate on a box grater (or a zester). Be sure to zest only the bright outermost part of the lemon. Stop before you get to the inner white pith.
- Lemon Juice: Use real lemon juice. You’ll need real lemons for the zest, so you can use some of the juice from the already zested lemons. Consider juicing both the lemons and using the remainder to make a quick lemonade.
- Vanilla Extract: Use real vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla. You can buy a large bottle of vanilla extract from Costco at a reasonable price, which may be helpful if you bake throughout the year.
- Granulated Sugar: Adds sweetness. This recipe calls for ¾ cup of sugar, which is sweet but not too sweet. It can be reduced to as little as ½ cup (not very sweet) or up to 1 cup to make it a very sweet dessert.
- Baking Powder: For leavening.
- Salt: Brings out flavor.
- Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour.
- Powdered Sugar: Optional. For dusting the cake after it has cooled.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
There are so many ways to combine olive oil, cake, and citrus together, but here are two more of my favorites:
- Italian Olive Oil Cake: A classic light and airy cake with hints of lemon and fragrant olive oil.
- Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake: A fun citrusy spin on a cake using grapefruit zest and juice.
- Lemon Blueberry Olive Oil Cake: Bursting with fresh blueberries and citrusy lemon.
- Lemon Blueberry Mascarpone Cake: A layer cake with lemon curd filling and a creamy and easy mascarpone frosting.
- Olive Oil Carrot Cake: Made with grated carrots and warm spices.
- You can also make this cake topped with lemon curd, with almonds, or with orange zest and juice. It can be made in a loaf pan, or a cake pan, or adapted to use in a bundt pan.
How to Make Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
Below are the step-by-step instructions for how to make Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.
*Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a springform pan: butter and flour a 9-inch springform or cake pan.
Expert Tip: If you want to line the bottom of the springform pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove the cake when it is fully baked, cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan.
Butter the bottom of the pan and press the parchment paper into the bottom of the buttered pan. Then flip the parchment paper over and press it into the pan again. Now butter the sides of the pan and dust the entire pan with flour.
Step 2. Rosemary Infused Olive Oil: Add the extra virgin olive oil to a small saute pan with the fresh rosemary and place on medium-low heat. On an electric stove this is a setting of "3" on a scale of "1-10". Allow to warm through for 10-12 minutes or until it just starts to bubble. Use tongs to remove the rosemary sprigs.
Allow the extra virgin olive oil to come to a cool room temperature (otherwise it will scramble the eggs). To speed up the process, place the saute pan on a pot holder in the fridge.
Step 3. Combine the Wet Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, add the now cooled extra virgin olive oil, whole milk, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and combine.
Step 4. Add the Sugar, Baking Powder, and Salt and combine.
Step 5. Add the Flour and combine.
Step 6. Bake: Pour the cake batter into the prepared springform pan. Bake at 350℉ for 26-28 minutes.
The top should become domed in shape and turn a light brown color in the center. Insert a tootpick in the middle and ensure it comes out clean without any wet batter or crumbs.
Allow the cake to cool for at least 10-15 minutes before cutting it into slices. Dust the cake with powdered sugar before serving for an easy way to make the cake look extra fancy (optional).
Recipe Tips
Olive Oil: Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Choose a good quality extra virgin olive oil, which does not need to be very expensive. Generally speaking, I recommend buying the highest quality ingredients that you can afford (not necessarily the most expensive).
Mix By Hand: This is a simple cake and can be mixed by hand in one bowl with a large mixing spoon.
Don’t Overmix: Don’t overmix the batter, the more you mix the more gluten is developed which results in a tougher cake.
Prepared Dish: Butter and flour the baking dish to make it easy to cut and remove clean slices.
Toothpick Test: Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake on the earlier side of the allotted baking time to check for doneness. The toothpick should come out clean without any wet batter or moist crumbs. This will help to ensure that the cake is fully cooked, which will prevent it from sinking afterward.
How to Serve and Store
- To Serve: Allow the cake to fully cool and serve either with a simple dusting of powdered sugar or with a drizzle of honey. You can also serve it with freshly whipped cream for an extra special touch.
- To Store: Store the cake in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap at room temperature on the counter for up to three days.
Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake FAQs
I do not recommend using dried rosemary. Use only fresh rosemary sprigs. If you cannot get your hands on fresh rosemary, skip the rosemary altogether and make a lemon olive oil cake instead. To do this, skip the step of warming the olive oil with the rosemary and add the olive oil on its own directly to the batter.
Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil only. Choose one that you already know that you like, or if you need a starting point, I recommend Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Trader Joe’s or Costco.
Use both lemon zest and lemon juice for this recipe. The lemon zest is where all the lemon flavor comes from. It has the bright lemon citrus flavor but without all the acidity that is in the juice. It is a key ingredient in the recipe.
If You're Interested In More Dessert Recipes, You May Love These
If you tried this Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- zest of 2 large lemons
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tsps baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar (for dusting the cake) optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan or cake pan.
- Add the olive oil to a small sauté pan. Add the fresh rosemary. Bring the pan to a medium-low temperature for 10-12 minutes. For an electric stove, this is a “3” on a scale of “1-10”. It should just start to bubble at that time. Remove the rosemary sprigs and allow the olive oil to cool to room temperature. You now have rosemary infused olive oil. You can place the sauté pan in the fridge on a potholder to speed up the cooling process.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the now cool extra virgin olive oil, whole milk, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
- Add the granulated sugar and stir to combine. Add the baking powder and salt and combine.
- Add the flour and combine.
- Bake for 26-28 minutes or until the top has a domed shape, it is lightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Leave a Reply