Naked Lemon Olive Oil Cake

A Cake for Every Celebration
This recipe can be a fun way to simply cherish the day (carpe diem), without feeling like you’ve strayed from your dedication to healthy eating. Due to its subtle flavor, olive oil cake can be enjoyed as breakfast cake with your morning coffee or served as dessert (topped with fruit) to celebrate a birthday.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Cool Time: 30+ minutes

Total Time: 1 hour and 50+ minutes

Ingredients

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup non-dairy milk (soy, cashew or dairy milk if you opt for a non-vegan option)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (Alternative: You could make this an orange olive oil cake and use fresh orange juice.)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest (If making an orange olive oil cake, use fresh orange zest.)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour (For a gluten-free option, use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.)

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Cooking spray

Optional Toppings: fresh berries, fresh mint

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of your 9-inch springform cake pan (recommended because your cake will rise to 2.5 or 3 inches and could overflow a traditional 9-inch cake pan) with parchment paper and spray the pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the olive oil, applesauce, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the batter is smooth. Tip: Mix until all ingredients are just combined – try not to overmix the batter as it will make your cake denser.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Tip: Avoid opening the oven to check on the cake – wait until at least 45 minutes to check your cake to prevent the center of your cake from falling and denting. Your cake will be done with a successful clean-toothpick test.

Allow your cake to cool for 30 minutes, then flip it out onto a cooling rack to cool fully.

Did you know? Since olive oil makes this cake extremely moist, it tends to store and last longer than comparable butter cake (yellow cake) recipes. Store your cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days or freeze for two months.

Adapted from mydarlingvegan.com