Orange Olive Oil Cake

The beauty of baking with olive oil is that it enhances and elevates flavors and allows for the nuance of ingredients to spring forward. And you would be right to imagine that the taste and fragrance of orange takes center stage in this impossibly moist and scrumptious cake.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups Liokareas Orange Olive Oil
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 finely sliced orange
1/4 cup orange freshly squeezed juice
1 tsp lemon or orange extract
2 tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp poppy seeds (optional)
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cup lemon curd

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Brush paper with butter. Arrange thin orange slices on the bottom of the paper-lined pan. If desired, sprinkle some poppy seeds into the spaces in between the slices. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat olive oil and eggs together. Add milk, orange zest, orange juice, orange extract, and cardamom and beat together. Once well combined, add sugar and beat for a minute more.

Now add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and beat on low just long enough to blend.

Pour batter gently into the pan so that you don’t disturb the orange slices. Bake for 60 minutes. Test with a wooden skewer and continue to bake until the skewer emerges clean from the loaf.

Remove from oven. Gently insert spatula between paper and pan to loosen. Let cool to room temperature before lifting the loaf out of the pan. Gently and slowly remove the parchment paper. Flip over onto a platter so that the orange slices are on top.

Warm the lemon over a low flame, stirring until it is loose and glaze-like. Spoon over the top of the loaf, letting the lemon curd drip generously down the sides.

Serve with a dollop pf whipped cream. Garnish with edible flowers or fresh citrus zest.

Recipe and Styling by Keith Recker / Photography by Dave Bryce