Orange Olive Oil Cake

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Orange Olive Oil Cake with dried tart cherries will brighten even the dreariest wintry day! This quick and easy one bowl recipe makes two moist and flavorful loaf cakes. What a delicious way to get your vitamin C!

Orange loaf cake topped with powdered sugar grid design on a white platter with orange slices.

Why you'll love this recipe

This moist and fruity olive oil loaf cake is as versatile as it is delicious. The recipe makes multiple mini loaves for care packages and gifting or use regular sized loaf pans to make one loaf for you and another to share!

The tart dried cherries add an extra layer of fruity flavor, but if you don’t like cherries, leave them out. This olive oil citrus cake will still be bursting with flavor.

For another fruity quick bread with zesty orange flavor, next time try this Ocean Spray Cranberry Bread recipe.

Slices of cake on a platter showing airy crumb and dried cherries.

Ingredients

all-purpose flour
granulated sugar
baking powder
baking soda
large eggs
orange juice
grated orange zest
light olive oil or orange infused olive oil
dried cherries chopped

Instructions

This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.

To prepare the loaf pans, grease and flour the short sides of each loaf mold and line the bottom and long sides with a strip of parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer or in a mixing bowl with a rubber spatula, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
Mix in the eggs, orange juice, orange zest, and olive oil until combined.
Fold in the chopped dried cherries.
Bake until the tops are deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean.
Allow the loaves to cool completely in the pan.
To remove the cakes from the pan, slide a knife between the short ends of the loaf and the pan to loosen then lift up using the parchment paper strip overhang as handles.

Step by step images decorating the cake; metal grid on top, sprinkle with sugar, remove grid.

Frequently asked questions about using olive oil in baking

Olive oil has been used in Mediterranean cooking and baking for centuries. The oil’s health benefits have helped it grow in popularity in the US and Canada.

Because olive oil is a natural emulsifier, cakes baked with it retain moisture longer than cakes made with dairy, an important quality for care package baking.

Can you taste olive oil in baking?

Extra light olive oil has very little, if any, taste or flavor and will not be detectable in baking. Another option is to use olive oil infused with flavors such as orange, lemon, or berry.
My personal favorites come from Old Towne Oil in Chicago. (Not an affiliate link. I just love their products!)

Can you substitute olive oil for vegetable oil in baking?

Yes! After all, olive oil is also a vegetable oil. Substitute it in equal quantities as the oil called for in a recipe.

Can I substitute olive oil in a baking recipe that calls for butter?

Substituting oil for butter works well recipes that don't depend on creaming of the butter and sugar to provide aeration and rise.
Substitute in a ratio of three parts oil to 4 parts butter.
For example, if the recipe calls for ½ cup (8 tablespoons) of butter, you would use 6 tablespoons of olive oil.

Slice of Orange Olive Oil Cake with a cup of tea.

Tips and variations

This flavorful loaf cake mixes up in minutes. Following these tips will ensure baking success.

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This versatile recipe can be prepared in a variety of shapes and sizes including one 9” round cake pan, two full sized 9” x 5” loaf pans, four small loaves 3” x 5 ½”, or 8 mini loaves 3 ¼” x 2 ½”.
Lining the pan with parchment is essential for the loaf to come out of the pan intact. Many of the cherries will sink to the bottom of the loaf and stick to the pan if it isn’t lined.
For an adults only version of this cake, substitute 3 tablespoons of the orange juice with 3 tablespoons of Grand Marnier or Amaretto.
For easy, eye catching decorating, use any grill screen or grid as a stencil. Place the grid over the cake, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, and carefully lift up the grid.
Serve this loaf (or mail it in a care package) with a fruity tea. Cherry tea is especially wonderful.

Cup of tea on a saucer with a slice of cake and a tin of cherry tea.

More loaf cake recipes

Coconut Milk Chocolate Chip Pound Cake gets its amazing soft texture from coconut milk. Can a pound cake be light and melt in your mouth? This one can!

Honey Cake is traditional for Rosh Hashanah, but delicious all year! This moist loaf cake recipe can also be made as muffins or in a bundt pan.

Looking for a Lemon Loaf that is even better than Starbucks? You found it. Or, for different fruity flavor, try Cherry Bread.

Oatmeal Raisin Quick Bread is cake you can eat for breakfast. Full of toasty oatmeal goodness and sweetened with raisins.

Mini Pumpkin Cakes are soft, sweet little loaves made cozy with pumpkin and butterscotch flavor.

Tea Brack is a delicious Irish fruit cake made with tea. This moist loaf full of raisins is an Irish holiday tradition.

Closeup of sliced Orange Olive Oil Cake sliced on a platter.

My experience with this recipe

When I was 12, my family moved to Europe for two years, with most of the time spent on the southern coast of Spain surrounded by olive trees. We used olive oil from those trees in our Spanish kitchen.

The Spanish olive oil wasn’t like the neutrally flavored, light and extra light olive oil on supermarket shelves today. Our Spanish olive oil was freshly pressed, in unmarked bottles, from the olive grove nearby. It smelled and tasted strongly like olives.

Everything you cooked with that oil, smelled and tasted like olives. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like olives!

Many years passed before I was willing to try olive oil again. I still don’t like olives, but I do like cooking and baking with olive oil. Light or extra light olive oil gives baked goods a moist, light texture with no added flavor.

I’ve been delighted with the results of using olive oil in baking and I think you will be too. It makes my Very Chocolate Cookies soft and chewy and gives this orange loaf a light and moist crumb.

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