This Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake is simple to make, tender and filled with bright orange and fragrant rosemary flavours. Drizzle over a dark chocolate ganache and you’ve got the perfect treat for afternoon tea – or any time of day!
Orange and rosemary are a classic flavour pairing when it comes to savoury cooking and cocktails, but the winter fruit and herb are a perfect match for desserts too.
Olive oil cakes are easy to whip up, stay moist longer, and have a fresher taste thanks to the subtle but fruity olive oil flavour.
Together with a dark chocolate drizzle, you end up with a cake delightful treat; a tasty and easy cake recipe that you’ll come back to again and again.
(But if the addition of the jaffa-esque chocolate flavour has made you scrunch up your nose, try my blood orange yogurt cake instead!)
Why you’ll love this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
- It’s delicious. While we all love a good butter cake, this olive oil cake highlights the bright orange and aromatic piney rosemary rather than fighting with it. It makes for a lighter cake in both flavour and texture.
- One bowl batter. The batter comes together in just one bowl, which means less dishes to wash. That’s a win in anyone’s books!
- Easy to make. This cake is easy to whip up and requires no specialised equipment, just a bowl, a whisk and a flexible spatula.
- Decoration is optional. This Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake is great just as it is. You can serve it plain, just warm, or let it cool completely and either dust it simply with icing sugar, or drizzle over a bitter dark chocolate ganache. Choose your own adventure and enjoy.
Cook along with me
Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this fragrant and tasty cake:
- Sugar. Granulated sugar should be used for this recipe. It’s coarser grind means it can handle being rubbed with the orange zest and rosemary without becoming liquidy.
- Orange. I used in-season cara cara oranges for this recipe, but any oranges you can get will work perfectly. Make sure to use fresh oranges though and not store-bought orange juice. Clean them well as you’ll be using the rind in the recipe as well as the fresh juice.
- Rosemary. Rosemary is a fragrant, piney-lemon-esque herb that is used in both savoury and sweet cooking. It pairs really well with orange. And chocolate!
- Olive oil. Use olive oil and not extra virgin olive oil for this cake recipe. While the olive oil helps create a more tender and moist cake, you don’t want a strong, grassy extra virgin olive oil taste in the cake, just a subtle fruity flavour from good quality olive oil. Do not substitute with vegetable, canola, coconut or any other kind of oil.
- Eggs. It’s best if the eggs are at room temperature.
- Flour. All purpose flour is all you need for this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake recipe.
- Baking powder. All cakes need a little help to rise to the top, and in this recipe, we’re using a little baking powder.
- Salt. Just a little sea salt to enhance the flavour.
- Chocolate. I used 70% dark chocolate for two reasons: I like the slight bitterness it brings to the overall taste of the cake, and because I can successfully make ganache with dark chocolate 95% of the time. You can use milk chocolate if you prefer, but you’ll have to watch the heat of the cream more carefully. Milk chocolate also makes a softer ganache because of the additional milk in the chocolate.
- Cream. You’ll need full fat heavy cream or thickened cream so the chocolate and cream actually emulsify into ganache.
Find the exact quantities in the recipe card below.
How to Make this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
You can serve this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake just as it is or simply dust it with some icing sugar. Though I highly recommend whipping up a simple chocolate ganache to drizzle over the top. The rosemary and olive oil notes enhance both the orange and the chocolate.
To make the cake:
- Flavour the sugar. Rub the orange zest and rosemary into the sugar with your fingertips until fragrant and moist. This infuses the sugar with the citrus and herb flavour so it’s more pronounced in the baked cake.
- Add the wet ingredients. Add the olive oil, eggs and orange juice and whisk together until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and fold together, gently but quickly making sure to not overwork the batter.
- Bake. Scoop or pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined loaf pan and bake until golden brown and a skewer test from the middle comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool. COMPLETELY!
- Make the ganache. And drizzle it over the cooled cake.
- Slice and enjoy!
Got a sweet tooth? Try these recipes too:
Have you made this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake yet? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Did you make the chocolate ganache drizzle too? Or take a pic and tag me over on Instagram, I love seeing what you guys are making from the blog!
Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
This Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake is simple to make, tender and filled with bright orange and fragrant rosemary flavours. Drizzle over a dark chocolate ganache and you’ve got the perfect treat for afternoon tea – or any time of day!
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Servings: 8 serves
Ingredients
Olive Oil Cake Ingredients
- 150 g granulated sugar
- Zest from 3 oranges
- 1 tablespoon rosemary, very finely chopped
- 240 ml olive oil, see notes
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 180 ml fresh orange juice, from the zested oranges
- 280 g flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Ganache Ingredients
- 100 g 70% dark chocolate
- 125 ml heavy cream
Instructions
For the Olive Oil Cake
- To make the cake, start by preheating the oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm x 13cm loaf tin with butter and line the sides with baking paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, orange zest and rosemary. Using your fingertips, rub the zest and rosemary into the sugar until moist and fragrant. Add the olive oil, eggs and orange juice, and whisk until combined.150 g granulated sugar, Zest from 3 oranges, 1 tablespoon rosemary, 240 ml olive oil, 3 eggs, 180 ml fresh orange juice
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and fold gently but quickly until just combined and smooth. Don’t over mix.280 g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
For the Ganache
- When the cake is cool, make the ganache. Start by chopping the chocolate very finely and then place the chocolate in a heat-proof glass or metal bowl.100 g 70% dark chocolate
- Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. It is ready when small bubbles appear around the edges and is barely simmering. Do not allow the cream to come to the boil as that will scald the chocolate and cause it to split.125 ml heavy cream
- Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolates and let it sit undisturbed for 3-4 minutes to melt the chocolate. Then, using a metal spoon, stir the mixture until chocolate melts completely and emulsifies with the cream.
- The ganache is now ready to be used as a drizzle to decorate the cake. Note that it will continue to become thicker the longer it stands.
- Cut the cake into thick slices and serve, with extra ganache, if you like.
Cook along with me
Notes
A note on olive oil. Do not substitute the olive oil in this Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake, even with extra virgin olive oil. You want a fruity, subtle flavour, not a grassy or peppery flavour. Other kinds of oils, like vegetable, canola or coconut oil will not only impact the flavour of the baked cake, but will change the texture in an unpleasant way as well.
A note on tin shapes and sizes. If you don’t have a loaf tin, you can bake it in a round 23cm cake tin for approximately the same cook time.
A note on timing. Don’t be tempted to make the ganache while the cake is cooking. You need the cake to have cooled before you can drizzle over the ganache, and if you make the ganache too early, it will thicken as it stands and will no longer be the right texture for drizzling.
A note on storage. This Orange and Rosemary Olive Oil Cake will keep well in an airtight container for 4-5 days, moving it to the fridge after day 3. If serving after having been refrigerated, make sure to bring the cake back to room temp.
A note on the ganache. You will have leftover ganache. It will keep well refrigerated for a week. It pairs well with fruit or spread thickly on toast.
Did you make this recipe?Mention @food_daydreaming or tag #fooddaydreaming on instagram. I love seeing what you all come up with!
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 603.65kcal | Carbohydrates: 54.68g | Protein: 7.81g | Fat: 40.61g | Saturated Fat: 11.12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.71g | Monounsaturated Fat: 22.85g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 78.9mg | Sodium: 168.62mg | Potassium: 123.84mg | Fiber: 2.93g | Sugar: 25.05g | Vitamin A: 111.29IU | Vitamin C: 11.74mg | Calcium: 70.03mg | Iron: 2.85mg
