My favorite Chocolate Olive Oil Cake.
Everyone knows my roots are in Italian Cuisine, and when in doubt I always fall back to what has served me faithfully these many years.
The first time I ever had an olive oil cake, or for that matter, olive oil was in Mama Jeanette’s kitchen. She asked me what I wanted for dessert and I said a chocolate cake, she laughed and said: “sonny boy, Mama Jeanette has just the cake for you!”
When I saw her add the olive oil, I tried to imagine how I would ever be able to eat that cake…..sigh……but after my first bite, my doubts vanished and I ate half the cake that night.
It had been many years since I had that chocolate olive oil cake, and I did take some liberties with the recipe. I added a mascarpone filling and a mocha glaze.
The cake was excellent, as good as I remembered, and the mocha glaze was a nice addition. And the mascarpone cream went well with the chocolate. If you want to make a simpler cake, whipped cream would make a delicious filling.
I do hope you give this cake a try, I promise it will be love at first bite! And if you like cake as much as I do.
- Chocolate Ganache Truffles and Chocolate Dipped Treats
- Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Triple Chocolate Pecan Fudge Brownies
- Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
- Classical Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil *mild if possible
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups cold water
Frosting
- 1 cup mascarpone or cream cheese
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ Cup Greek Yogurt
- ¼ Cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Mocha Glaze
- 2 tablespoons powdered instant espresso
- ¼ cup boiling water
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 ⅔ cups finely chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
- With your mixer on low speed beat in the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the two 9″ prepared pans, coated with butter and dusted in flour or sugar.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Do not over bake the cake. It should be firm to the touch, and a cake skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
- Put the cake pans on cooling racks and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- To make the frosting, combine the mascarpone, cream, Greek yogurt, sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes thick, about 5 minutes
Glaze
- stir together the instant espresso and boiling water until smooth. Set aside.
- Combine the cream and the corn syrup in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the espresso.
- Pour the mixture over the chocolate and let sit, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the sauce is very smooth.
- Keep warm until ready to use, or let cool to room temperature and store in a container with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- Reheat chilled sauce over very low heat on the stove top or in the microwave until warm enough to pour easily.
Assembly
- Frost Between the cake layers and pour a generous amount of the mocha glaze over the top of the cake allowing it to run down the sides.
Tish
Hi Chef,
Would I need to double the frosting if I am using exclusively? That would be 5 cups of frosting. I certainly don’t want to buy extra mascarpone or heavy cream only to find out that your amounts were enough? I am making this for this Saturday so I need a response soon.
Love olive oil cakes.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Tish
If you’re only using a small amount of frosting in between the layers, you should have enough to do the top of the cake with the frosting instead of using the glaze. If you wanted to frost the sides of the cake as well, you may want to increase the amount by one-half
Tish
Thank you for your timely reply. Also making the cannoli cream cake. Second time making. It’s fabulous. So two Italian cakes are going to be a hit.
🎈
Chef Dennis Littley
Have you made my tiramisu yet? It’s my all-time favorite dessert!
christine
This is my second time making your cake. I absolutely love the chocolate cake itself. It’s moist but not too fudgey. The perfect chocolate cake!
Chef Dennis
Hi Christine
I’m so happy to hear that you like my olive oil cake, it is one of my favorite chocolate cakes!
Dennis
Julie
Your chocolate olive oil cake is the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten…very moist and fudgy. It is the only chocolate cake I make for my family now…truly easy and delicious. My husband says it tastes just like his grandmother’s cake. Thanks so very much for sharing!
Chef D
thank you Julie! I’m so happy to hear that you and your husband have enjoyed my olive oil cake. It’s one of the first desserts I teach my girls, its so easy to make and incredibly delicious!
Helene Dsouza I Masala Herb
Love oilve oil in cakes, keeps it all well moist for some days. =)
chef, can I ask you why u chose to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of simple Olive oil for the baking? I was taught to use normal olive oil because extra virgin olive oil contains some healthy nutrients that get destroyed when heated up. just curious… =)
Chef D
hi Helene
that is true, but Extra virgin is the only olive oil I buy, so I use it for everything. I do keep a bottle of canola oil on hand and now I use coconut oil for somethings. But with the olive oil, its easier to just buy one.
thanks for asking!
Dennis
Angela
Thankyou Chef,
Forgot to ask can they be fozen?
Thanks
Angela
Hi,
I was wondering if this recipie could be made into cupcakes and iced with buttercream icing or cream cheese icing?
Thanks
Chef D
hi Angela
yes this recipe can easily be made into cupcakes, I do them at school all the time. And what ever type of frosting you like will work, I would love one with a good buttercream!
cheers
Dennis
Erandi
Awesome, the final result is something more than just a choco-cake!! Isn’t dry, there is no excess of humidity . Is just perfect!!!
I have to say this is my new favorite choco-recipe, tks!!!!
Chef D
It is an amazing chocolate cake, so easy to make and delicious! Thanks for letting me know you tried it!
EA-The Spicy RD
Gorgeous cake! I’ve bookmarked several cakes with olive oil to try, but I think this will be at the top of my list, and I’ll take your suggestion to make it with whipped cream. Simply amazing!!
Shelly
Everything turned out great but the glaze….please clarify the amount of chopped chocolate. 2 2/3 cups is alot of chopped chocolate and my glaze was very thick…like fudge 🙁
Chef D
I’m sorry about the glaze not turning out, was it warm when you used it because in the refrig it will thicken like fudge. I’m a bit of a chocolate freak so I probably used much more than necessary. My glaze is more like a ganache, if you would like it to be a little more runny, cut back the chocolate by a cup, just make sure to start with the cream before adding the coffee. Of course you could leave the coffee out altogether if you like too. Thinning chocolate can be tricky and I have found that only heavy cream or corn syrup will do to get it started but once its started to melt and thin, you can use other liquids, just thin it down till its more to your liking.
thanks for trying the cake and if you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to email me.
Liza
I made this incredible cake today and OH MY, it is awesome! I took the chef’s advice and just made whipped cream for the frosting/filling, which made the recipe even simpler. Sooo good!!
Chef D
isn’t it amazing! who knew a cake that simple would be so delicious! Thank you so much for letting me know!
Gwenevere
Glaze aside…I can eat this cake! No milk No egss (yeah for wacky cake!) I'm also diggin your profile pic on foodbuz, mostly because I want to garden but I'm frozen with fear. 🙂
Dina
wow, what a great looking cake! i really want to try that frosting. sounds delish!
All That's Left Are The Crumbs
I have never tried an olive oil cake before, but you can bet I will be very soon. Such beautiful and enticing photos as always.