I was a bit skeptical at the idea of Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil. That was really dumb of me, because this stuff is delicious. Like, nectar of the gods good. The smell alone is fabulous, but the taste – wowsers. (And yes, “wowsers” is a technical term.)
In my town, there’s a cute little olive oil store. I ventured in for the first time last week, and the array of olive was impressive, as were their marketing 
techniques. Namely, offering samples, including little bites of Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake. Leave it to me to walk into an oil store and come out craving carbs.
I left armed with a bottle of blood orange extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and a recipe.
Fact: Rachael is the one who popularized “EVOO” and the Oxford American College Dictionary added it because of her in 2006. (Read more about that here.) I’m going to follow her lead and call it Blood Orange EVOO Cake.
Back to the cake. It’s yummy, and very simple to make. The orange flavor is there, but it doesn’t smack you up the side of the head, and it also isn’t overly sweet. It’s my new favorite in place of shortcake. Topping this cake with fruit mixed with an orange syrup makes a perfect summer time dessert.
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus a little more for the pan
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup Blood Orange EVOO, plus more for the pan
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- juice and zest of 1 large orange (if your orange is smaller, use 2)
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- confectioners sugar for dusting
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease and flour 9 inch round cake pan.
Mix sugar and eggs in bowl with hand mixer on medium speed until blended. Drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Then add vanilla, orange juice and orange zest.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
Add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time to the wet ingredients, mixing on low after each addition until just incorporated.
Pour batter into cake pan and bake 20 minutes.
Allow it to cool and then dust with confectioners sugar.
Recipe adapted from the Twisted Olive.
The cake is fine on its own. But it it really becomes a star when you add fresh fruit mixed with orange-vanilla simple syrup.
Orange-Vanilla Syrup
1 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the sugar, 1 cup water, orange zest, juice and vanilla bean in a small pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken. Set aside to cool.
You can also use that syrup to make homemade orange cream sodas. Get the recipe here.
If you try it out, I’d love to hear how you like it!
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