Lemon Olive Oil Cake — My new FAVORITE lemon dessert of all time!! Lemon zest, juice, extract, and Limoncello add so much AMAZING lemon flavor to this EASY, ridiculously moist no-mixer cake that’s unique and INCREDIBLE!!
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This easy, one-bowl, no-mixer cake is a my new favorite lemon dessert. That’s a huge statement because this Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf with hundreds of glowing reviews is very hard to beat.
The olive oil lemon cake itself if not overly sweet, which I appreciated since it’s rich from the olive oil.
This is an excellent cake for holiday parties and events. It is a talking piece kind of cake rather than just another chocolate cake that we’ve all had a zillion times. Unique and different in the best possible way.
It would be the perfect cake to serve after a fancier dinner party with equally rich or luxurious food. I liken olive oil cake to cakes served in fancy restaurants. They are never sugar bombs – even the chocolate ones. They are more refined and tend to have unique flavor pairings that you don’t encounter often.
Ingredients in Lemon Olive Oil Cake
To make this supremely moist lemon cake recipe with olive oil, you’ll need:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Eggs
- Whole milk
- Lemon juice and zest
- Limoncello (store-bought or homemade)
- Lemon extract
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Confectioners’ sugar
Limoncello Substitute
I realize you may not want to buy a bottle of Limoncello just for this recipe, and you can substitute an orange-flavored liqueur like Gran Marnier. Or, you can make your own limoncello – but it needs 2 to 6 weeks before it can be enjoyed!
How to Make Lemon Olive Oil Cake
This recipe for Italian lemon cake with olive oil is incredibly easy to make! Here’s a look at how it comes together:
- Simply whisk together the wet ingredients, then add in the dry.
- Turn the batter into a greased and parchment-lined 9-inch springform pan.
- Bake the limoncello cake until golden brown and domed in the center.
- The cake needs to cool for 1 hour in the pan, then you can release it and let it finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Dust with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.
A note about the bake time: This limoncello cake bakes in a fairly cool oven for a long duration, low and slow. Start checking your cake at 60 minutes, but due to oven and climate variances it could take as long as 75 minutes or so to bake; watch you cake and not the clock.
Love Olive Oil Desserts?
After making this Italian lemon olive oil cake, try making my orange olive oil cake and olive oil chocolate chip cookies next!
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Not every cake recipe is suitable for using olive oil (rather than canola or vegetable oil), but this Italian cake is perfect with olive oil!
If you’ve never tried baking with olive oil, you’re missing out! I have always preferred oil in cake rather than butter. Oil is 100% fat whereas butter is about 80% fat. That extra 20% of fat simply keeps oil-based cakes softer and moister than butter cakes. You can’t argue with science.
Olive oil cakes are supremely soft, tender, and exceedingly moist without being too heavy or dense. You can literally almost see the moistness oozing from the cake, but it doesn’t taste greasy and it stays moist for days. The cake is just as good a week later as it is on the first day which never happens with cakes, and it’s even more moist.
What I tasted more than anything was the lovely lemon flavor without being too tart or overpowering. The cake has lemon incorporated four ways: lemon zest, lemon juice, Limoncello liqueur, and lemon extract.
I used Trader Joe’s Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil and while I’m sure the flavor of the cake will change depending on the exact brand and type of oil used, I recommend a quality extra-virgin olive oil here. Something you’d dip bread in, cook chicken in, or use in a homemade salad dressing.
If you use a cheap olive oil, it will have a stronger, harsher flavor that will negatively affect the cake.
You only use 1/4 cup of limoncello in the entire cake, which doesn’t sound like much but it’s also something I wouldn’t skip. It adds a luxurious flavor that’s so elegant tasting.
If you don’t drink alcohol for whatever the reason, I cannot say how the cake will taste or turn out if you, for example, just use 1/4 cup water in its place or use an extra 1/4 cup lemon juice — that worries me more because of the extra acidity in the lemon juice coupled with the baking soda/powder and I’m not sure what will happen.
My thoughts are that during baking, the potency of the actual alcohol bakes off and what you’re left with is simply the flavor. Again, it’s only 1/4 cup divided between a cake that will easily feed 12 so each person is maybe getting 1/2 teaspoon. Cough syrup has more.
Yes! Do NOT make this cake in a regular 9-inch cake pan. Most are only about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep and this cake rises to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches on the sides and nearly 4 inches in the center. It will overflow in a regular 9-inch pan.
Sure thing! You can make orange olive oil cake, or play around with using grapefruit or lime zest and juice. I’m sure any kind of olive oil citrus cake would be delicious!
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Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons grated lemon zest
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ cup Limoncello, Gran Marnier may be substituted
- 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F, add a circle of parchment paper to the base of a 9-inch springform pan, and spray the parchment paper and the sides of the pan very well with cooking spray; set aside. Do not make this cake in a regular 9-inch cake pan. Most are only about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep and this cake rises to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches on the sides and nearly 4 inches in the center. It will overflow in a regular 9-inch pan.
- To a large bowl, add the olive oil, eggs, and whisk well to emulsify and incorporate.
- Add the milk, lemon zest, lemon juice (I was able to get sufficient zest and juice from one very large ripe lemon), Limoncello, lemon extract, and whisk to incorporate.
- Add the sugar and whisk to incorporate.
- Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and whisk until just incorporated; don’t overmix. The batter in on the thin side; this is normal.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, place pan on a baking sheet as insurance against a leaky springform pan, and bake for about 68 to 75 minutes. Start checking after 60 minutes since all ovens vary. Cake will be golden browned and domed in the center when done, and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow cake to cool in the springform pan for about 1 hour before releasing it and allowing the cake to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Dust with confectioners’ sugar prior to serving. Cake will keep airtight at room temp for 1 week and although I haven’t tried it, I think this cake would freeze very well for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Lemon Desserts:
The Best Lemon Loaf (Better-Than-Starbucks Copycat) – Took years but I finally recreated it!! Easy, no mixer, no cake mix, dangerously good, and SPOT ON!!
Lemon Lemonies – Like brownies, but made with lemon and white chocolate! Dense, chewy, not cakey and packed with big, bold lemon flavor!
Lemon Buttermilk Cake with Lemon Glaze – An easy little cake with big lemon flavor! Soft, fluffy, and foolproof if you like puckering up!
Lemon Crinkle Cookies — Lemon crinkles are pillowy soft on the inside and chewy on the outside, with slightly crispy edges from the powdered sugar coating!
Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies – Packed with big, bold lemon flavor for all you lemon lovers! They’re soft, chewy and not at all cakey!
Softbatch Glazed Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies – Big, bold lemon flavor packed into super soft cookies thanks to the cream cheese!! Tangy-sweet perfection! Lemon lovers are going to adore these easy cookies!!
Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread — This EASY, no-mixer homemade quick bread combines tangy lemon flavor with tender zucchini which keeps it so incredibly soft, tender, and moist!
Originally published December 27, 2019 and republished February 18, 2022 with updated text.
Wanting to make this diary free – do you think almond milk and/or nut pods would work with this recipe?
Wanting to make this diary free – do you think almond milk and/or nut pods would work with this recipe?
I don’t know…I would use coconut milk (in a carton, not can or if in a can lite not regular fat as it would be too thick) and that could work as coconut milk in a carton and/or lite in a can is about the same texture/consistency/viscosity as whole milk.
I would not use nut milk, too fibrous and just not the right flavor, texture, etc for this recipe. LMK what you try and if it works!
Hi! Would a 10-inch springform pan be an ok substitute if I don’t have a 9-inch one? Thanks!
Yes it will just bake faster because it’s thinner so keep an eye on it earlier than indicated.
I have just made this recipe and it is great. I have a few questions that I hope you can answer. What level or rack in your oven did you bake it on?
Also the bottom and sides did not brown up as well as the top. Do you think I should have baked it longer? Did you use the convection mode in your oven?
Thanks again for a fabulous recipe.
Middle rack (always for baking unless otherwise specified)
Also the bottom and sides did not brown up as well as the top. Do you think I should have baked it longer? = yes if it was raw in the center or you like more well done outside/sides. If it was done but just not browned, that really is personal preference.
Did you use the convection mode in your oven? = no for baking many times I don’t because not everyone has it
Thank you ever so much for the quick reply.
I gave your recipe a 5 star ratting. I have also tried the Orange Olive Oil Cake which was also great. Thanks again.
great
Is there a substitute for sugar in the lemon olive oil cake?
Or can the amount of sugar be decreased?
I have only made the recipe as written so can’t say what will happen if you alter things.
Enjoyed the easy recipe and followed it almost as listed except reduced the sugar by a half cup, ( I used cane sugar and I would have reduced more.)
Did not have lemon extract but increased freshly squeezed lemon juice up to 1/2cup and 1 TBSP of lemon zest. The cake was still very sweet even without the powdered sugar on top. Used organic ingredients and had the Limoncello on hand in the freezer that was gifted last Christmas.
Baked in a 9x 13 non-stick pan and cake was cooked perfectly (rose up to about 3 inches and was done at exactly around 58 minutes). I don’t like to use so many eggs in a recipe so I did not like the strong smell of eggs while it was baking. (I am not sure that the cake needs this qty.)
I turned off the oven at 60 minutes and let the cake cool in the oven, for 20 minutes. Cake was very moist and lightly dense, with a beautiful crumb and outer crust. Just sorely disappointed that it had absolutely no noticeable lemon flavor that I was looking forward to unfortunately. I did not like the smell of the eggy batter baking. I will try this again without eggs and use aquafaba or another egg substitute, figure out another way to bring the lemon flavor more prominently. I would reduce the sugar to about 3/4 cup in a modification. This was an easy cake to make but not citrusy enough. Adding a handful of frozen blueberries dusted in flour in this might go quite well. Thank you for sharing your easy recipe. Wishing it were more lemony.
Enjoyed the easy recipe and followed it almost as listed except reduced the sugar by a half cup, ( I used cane sugar and I would have reduced more.)
Did not have lemon extract but increased freshly squeezed lemon juice up to 1/2cup and 1 TBSP of lemon zest. The cake was still very sweet even without the powdered sugar on top. Used organic ingredients and had the Limoncello on hand in the freezer that was gifted last Christmas.
Baked in a 9x 13 non-stick pan and cake was cooked perfectly (rose up to about 3 inches and was done at exactly around 58 minutes). I don’t like to use so many eggs in a recipe so I did not like the strong smell of eggs while it was baking. (I am not sure that the cake needs this qty.)
I turned off the oven at 60 minutes and let the cake cool in the oven, for 20 minutes. Cake was very moist and lightly dense, with a beautiful crumb and outer crust. Just sorely disappointed that it had absolutely no noticeable lemon flavor that I was looking forward to unfortunately. I did not like the smell of the eggy batter baking. I will try this again without eggs and use aquafaba or another egg substitute, figure out another way to bring the lemon flavor more prominently. I would reduce the sugar to about 3/4 cup in a modification. This was an easy cake to make but not citrusy enough. Adding a handful of frozen blueberries dusted in flour in this might go quite well. Thank you for sharing your easy recipe. Wishing it were more lemony.
I just baked this cake and it’s cooling down. It was so easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly. It took 60 minutes. The color is nice and browned. I will be serving it tomorrow evening, but I couldn’t wait to give my comments.
I just baked this cake and it’s cooling down. It was so easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly. It took 60 minutes. The color is nice and browned. I will be serving it tomorrow evening, but I couldn’t wait to give my comments.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this turned out great for you and I know everyone will love it!
Can you make this in a loaf pan? It sounds lovely and I’m trying it soon!
This is a really dense cake and I fear that a loaf pan is just not the correct pan for the job unless you fill them very shallowly because it may not bake through otherwise without burning on the top/sides. So I recommended making as written for optimal results.
I have really gotten into baking during quarantine, so I decided to try this recipe. My parents love lemon flavoured desserts, so I knew this recipe had would win them over! I didn’t change anything about the recipe. It took mine 60 minutes to bake because my oven is older and runs super hot. Everyone loved it!! It was so moist but not wet. The lemon flavour was not too mouth puckering, either (I used 1tsp lemon extract).
I have really gotten into baking during quarantine, so I decided to try this recipe. My parents love lemon flavoured desserts, so I knew this recipe had would win them over! I didn’t change anything about the recipe. It took mine 60 minutes to bake because my oven is older and runs super hot. Everyone loved it!! It was so moist but not wet. The lemon flavour was not too mouth puckering, either (I used 1tsp lemon extract).
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that everyone loved this cake! It’s one of my personal fave cakes on my site!
Hi! I want to do this recipe so badly cause i just love how it looks but could you please explain something to me? When you say 1 1/3 cup does it mean 1 cup and then 1/3 of a cup of there is another measurement? Im sorry for the stupid question, where i live we use grams :)
It means 1.333 cups whatever that translates to in grams.
It was a success ! I think it’s a perfect treat to have with coffee in the morning! And olive oil makes it more healthy:) I made it again and covered the top with thin lemon slices before baking, worked great and made each piece even more lemony and the cake looks beautiful. Also I subbed Lemonsello with rum and it worked out! Thank you!
It was a success ! I think it’s a perfect treat to have with coffee in the morning! And olive oil makes it more healthy:) I made it again and covered the top with thin lemon slices before baking, worked great and made each piece even more lemony and the cake looks beautiful. Also I subbed Lemonsello with rum and it worked out! Thank you!