I'd never had an olive oil dessert until Matthew made this Olive Oil Cake. When he brought up the idea I was very hesitant. I couldn't imagine how it could taste good, let alone delicious. But, with my first bite of this olive oil cake I fell in love. If you know me at all you know one of my favorite foods is corn bread, and if you don't, now you do. This olive oil cake tastes like corn bread heaven! It's moist, dense and subtly sweet.
Cooking With Olive Oil
I find olive oil to have a very strong taste so I never even considered baking with it. Little did I know that olive oil is a great ingredient to use in cakes and breads, and is often done so by prominent chefs! It was Matt who decided that we should make an olive oil cake, even against my word, and I'm glad he didn't listen to me. The cake came out dense and delicious, and the olive oil wasn't too over powering. This olive oil cake has become my new favorite dessert and I know it will become yours too.
Low Carb Pound Cake
Given the dense, pound cake-like quality of this recipe you would expect the nutrition to be a lot worse. But, in fact, the low carb and high fat nutrition is one of the best parts! It came out of the oven and the first bite I took I instantly thought to myself 'pound cake'. Growing up I always had the same debate with my best friend, pound cake or angel food cake? She loved angel food cake and I couldn't stand it one bit. I always was and continue to be a pound cake kinda girl! If you want to serve it at a party or a holiday event the perfect addition would be a sugar glaze coating the top and eventually soaking into the cake. Yum!
Olive Oil Cake
Although it's the first olive oil baked good we've made, it's definitely not the first cake. If you're looking for a cake or are a fan of having dessert in the house at all times (like us!), then we suggest giving our Protein Cake or Cream Cheese Bread a try. But, if you're like me, and have never baked with olive oil you should go straight to baking this olive oil cake first.
Recipe can be quickly added to MyFitnessPal - Search "KetoConnect - Olive Oil Cake"
Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup Coconut flour
- 3/4 cup Low Carb Sugar Substitute
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
Instructions:
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat eggs to 3 times the volume in another bowl.
- Add olive oil, and vanilla extract to eggs and combine.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet as you combine.
- Pour into a greased spring form pan (we used a 9 inch pan).
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (edges will have browned).
Notes
Written by
Megha Barot
Megha has always been a passionate cook, but she took this to a new level after starting her keo journey in 2015. She loves creating new recipes and producing educational content for KetoConnect, which she co-founded in 2016 with Matt. Her passion for healthy eating and personal development continues to thrive. She's the proud mom of two awesome kids.
Recently found your website and tried this today. Amazing! No topping used or needed! Can’t wait to try other recipes (including the lemon version of this one)!
I didn’t have a large springform pan, so I divided the batter equally among 8 greased 4 ounce ramekins (approximately 1/4 cup per) and baked for 20 minutes. Instant portions with no guessing!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Great tip with the ramekins!! LOVE this!
I would like a substitute for eggs please.
Thanks
There are some great egg white replacements you can find in most grocery stores! Thatll work here
Hi
Is there a reason why there is such a large amount of raising agent?
2 tsp baking powder + 1.5 tsp baking soda? Isn’t that a lot of baking soda to add when there are no acidic ingredients?
I feel like this is going to have a strong “cake batter” flavor…but really like the idea of the cake.
Thanks!
No particular reason aside from it worked best with those ratios – you’re best bet is to give it a try and if you prefer omit the raising agent quantity. Hope you like it!
Is there a video to this recipe?
I used lemon extract instead of vanilla, and added 1tsp of poppy seeds to the dry ingredients.
OH YUM! Lemon cake!
The cake baked so well (and I cant really bake) But for some odd reason there is an after taste to the cake. Could you help me in identifying what I could have done wrong? Thank you!
Taste your olive oil and see if the taste matches
Add 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary and zest of one lemon to the batter. Use lemon juice and confectioner sugar for a glaze. Super delicious and so Italian!
I did everything the same except used monk fruit and did part almond flour and coconut flour. The cake is totally green! Is that normal? Also it is extremely oily, and the center took forever to bake through…is that normal? How do I keep it from turning green???
Did you use a metal pan?
OMG! This is amazing! Easy to make and so delicious! Keep up the great work : )
I do not have Swerve, can I use stevia?
You sure can!
Did you use extra virgin olive oil? It has such a strong taste that I’m afraid to try it.
Rhonda I was afraid to use the olive oil too, so I used one cup of melted coconut oil, be warned though the oil hardend back up and the dough hd to be pressed into the springform pan, but once in the oven the oil melted and the cake came out wonderful,did have some oil drippage into the oven though, thanks so much Megha and Matt for your recipes, they are awesom
one other thing, I love coconut, if you don’t then you might want to stick with the olive oil, This had a very strong coconut flavor, I also added one tablespoon of lemon juice to help activate the baking soda.
I realized I need to post the side effect of the coconut oil in the cake. Didn’t know coconut oil is a laxative?????, enough said, my hubby ate the cake, hes not on keto at all, and he loved the cake, he was complaining yesterday that he had some stomache issues, no pain just frequent bathroom visits??.. Hmmmmm can’t imagine why! Dont ask dont tell, and i was reserved on what I atebecause of my diet,. I’m sure he ate a lot of it??. ?????
It might have been the erythritol . . . . . sends me something chronic. I am going to find an alternative. x x x
Made this with melted bakers chocolate and instant coffee and it turned out amazing! Bless you for this recipe!
I’m so disappointed. Everything about the cake was amazing, except it had way too much baking soda flavor. I was hesitant adding that much too. I used Bob Red Mill’s brand and mixed everything with a hand blender. No one wants to touch it now, and I wasted the ingredients. 🙁 Is it really supposed to be 1 plus 1/4 tsp? Did anyone else have the same issue?
It was probably my bad. Perhaps it just needed to be mixed in better in the wet after it was mixed in with the dry. It’s such a lovely textured cake, and I can tell without the baking soda taste that this was the best keto dessert I’ve ever tasted. Thank you so much for the work you put into formulating it!
Well, I made the cake two more times mixing everything extremely well, and the baking soda taste still remained. If I omit the baking soda, will the cake not rise as much?
Are you using teaspoons or tablespoons? 1.25 teaspoons is not much at all for a cake and you shouldn’t taste it.
I was just coming on here to ask about the weird taste and itchiness it created in the back of my tongue. It would make sense that the baking soda is the cause of it. It’s such a shame because otherwise the taste and texture is really good. I followed the recipe exactly. I
Guys,
I make the cake with exact measurements. The cake looks great but it taste salty for me. Do you why?
Hm, not entirely sure why! It shouldn’t be very salty at all!
CAN I USE AVOCADO OIL INSTEAD OF OLIVE OIL?
It may have a different flavor, but we say go for it!
Judy, I just made this cake today with avocado oil is it is WONDERFUL!!!
Word of advice don’t put it on an aluminum bread pan and don’t split it in half (made 2 batches). It turned green on the bottom and dark brown on top. Haven’t cut through it yet it’s still hot.
This olive il cake was the best keto cake I have tasted so far. I almost lost faith that I could make a cake that fit’s my ketogenic lifestyle and tastes just as good as the real thing. But this cake is just tasting incredible.The taste of the oilve oil and vanilla is covering over the typical taste of the coconut flower (that I don’t like so much) and gives a unique taste to the cake. I used a quite strong tasting olive oil that I brought from italy and that was making the difference for me. Can’t thank you enough for this recipee. This one made it into my personal top 10!
Hey Cindy, we’re thrilled you love it! Thanks so much for the great feedback, we LOVE hearing that you found something you love! Thanks again!
This is amazing! I made a couple
of changes….I added 2-3 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice and the zest of a whole lemon. I also use 1/4 + 1/8 tsp of monk fruit in place of the erythritrol. My goal was to replicate a traditional Italian olive oil cake that I used to eat in my former life 🙂
We have a lot of eggs to use up so today we went MEGA Matt & Megha in the kitchen.
8 egg whites went into the tortillas
8 egg yolks went into a double batch of the lemon custard
6 eggs went into the DEEEEEE-licious olive oil cake
Some things I changed up with the olive oil cake:
Used an angel food cake pan – which does an excellent job of cooking the middle and all the way through.
Cut the cake in half, and did a “poke cake” version on one half using the lemon custard (drizzled into it while the cake was still a little warm) – then into the fridge. We’ll serve it with more custard on the side.
Made 3 different “toppings” to try on the naked half of the cake:
Butter and cream cheese “frosting” with a few drops of Stevia in 2 flavors –
Test 1: Vanilla Creme
Test 2: English Toffee
Macadamia nut butter from the local co-op (very creamy)
We cannot decide which style is our favorite… and I haven’t even experimented with the melted low carb dark chocolate drizzles yet.
I’m already thinking of how I might cook it next time… say with some pumpkin spice, or maybe some finely chopped pecans in the cake… so many possibilities.
Thanks so much, KetoConnect – for our first KetoCake!!!
Woah, you guys went all out today! Everything sounds so incredible and I love the changes you made to everything. Thanks for trying all of these recipes and we’re so happy you liked them all!
Thank you! 🙂 The results are in and the winner is… (drumroll)
Butter/Cream cheese frosting sweetened with English Toffee Stevia (though the lemon custard poke cake was a close second). The combination of the toffee with the taste and crumb of the cake was excellent. Next time we will add a little lemon juice to the frosting to give it a note of cheesecakey-ness.
You’d think such a fabulous cake would be the star, but the tortillas were the biggest hit of the night.
We’ve missed taco nights. But tonight we got some carne asada and salsa from our favorite around-the-corner taqueria, used the KC tortillas, and floated on a cloud of South-of-the-Border bliss back to earlier days.
My husband’s not a fan of most keto “kinda like the real thing” recipes. Tonight was a Huge Win – he ate every tortilla!! (Not including mine, of course.)
We wouldn’t have had this experience if it weren’t for you guys. You support me so much through your videos… and your recipes can even tempt my wonderful hubby’s sometimes stubborn palate.
Many thanks from the 2TChins.
My hubby and I both get upset stomachs from sugar alcohols. Syevia seems fine though. What should I use for “bulk” if I want to use liquid syevia for sweetness? Any ideas?
That’s a tough one. We will try and rework the recipe using liquid stevia but it can be tough to try and substitute into this recipe while adding something else for bulking.