This orange olive oil cake is my very favorite cake. It is the perfect balance of sweet and savory with a perfectly moist crumb. You can enjoy it throughout the year and the navel oranges can be substitute for blood oranges for a festive winter dessert.
The key to making a perfect orange layer is to ensure there are no gaps in the oranges when creating the bottom layer (which becomes the top of the cake when flipped out of the pan). This will prevent the cake batter from seeping below the oranges and covering your design. If the batter does happen to make its way through the orange layer while baking, you can carefully scrape the baked cake from the top of the oranges prior to letting the cake fully cool.
While I prefer to leave the rinds on the orange slices, they can be quite bitter and people may prefer to remove them when eating the cake. Another option is to remove the rinds before slicing and baking, but be sure to leave some of the white layer in place to hold the orange slices together.
Orange Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
Orange Layer:
- 2 navel oranges, sliced into 1/4” thick rounds
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp blood orange juice, juiced from the ends of the sliced oranges
Cake Batter:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup dairy or non-dairy milk, unsweetened
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 3-inch deep 9-inch round baking pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. If using a shallower pan, cut a long 3-inch wide strip of parchment paper to line the edge of the pan, otherwise cake may overflow.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice for the orange layer. Pour into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Arrange the orange slices in the pan, overlapping so they completely cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt.
- In another bowl whisk together the milk, egg, olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.
- Pour batter over the orange layer and carefully spread into an even layer.
- Bake for 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool slightly, then turn the pan upside down onto a plate so the orange layer is on top. Gently peel off the parchment paper if it comes out of the pan with the cake.
