Gluten Free Olive Oil Cake

This gluten free olive oil cake has a bright, lemony flavor, just enough sweetness, and a richness unique to baking with olive oil. It stays fresh on the counter for days, and you can make it dairy free with ease!

What makes this gluten free olive oil cake special

An olive oil cake is just a simple cake made with olive oil instead of butter. The liquid in the cake is usually buttermilk, which helps provide structure and extra tenderness.

Olive oil has a distinct flavor, so it's not commonly used in baking sweets. In fact, even oil-based cakes, like our gluten free carrot cake, are typically made with a neutral-tasting oil, like canola, vegetable, grapeseed, or peanut oil.

In this gluten free olive oil cake, we fully embrace the flavor of good olive oil. We work the whole recipe around it to brighten and enhance its flavor, so use an olive oil that you enjoy tasting.

This gf olive oil cake is not only full of flavor with a moist and tender crumb, but it's also super easy to make in one bowl. You'll need a mixer to beat the olive oil with sugar and then eggs until creamy, but then you'll sift the dry ingredients right into the same bowl.

Beyond the flavor of good olive oil, we also add vanilla extract and the finely grated zest of a whole lemon. But instead of giving the cake a strong lemon flavor, the zest just serves to enhance the brightness of the cake.

If you don't have a lemon to add the zest, leave it out and the recipe will still make a super moist cake with a perfect crumb. The overall flavor will simply be a bit muted.

Gluten free olive oil cake ingredients

The ingredients you'll need to make this olive oil cake are similar to those we use in most of our cakes, with a few notable exceptions:

• Gluten free flour – I made this recipe with a combination of Better Batter gluten free flour and cornstarch, but Cup4Cup would work well in place of both by weight. And yes, you have to sift it!
• Olive oil – You don't need to spend much on olive oil for this or any other purpose. Just use one you like the smell and taste of for all your cooking needs. Baking will only intensify the flavors, like with wine.
• Buttermilk – Be sure to use real buttermilk (or a real buttermilk substitute: half milk, half plain yogurt by volume), not milk with a bit of lemon juice, which doesn't mimic the texture properly.
• Lemon zest – The finely grated zest of 1 lemon is essential to the balanced flavor of this cake.

Recipe tips and tricks

Trust in the kitchen scale

Measure as many ingredients as possible by weight with a scale, not by volume—especially your gluten free flours. Otherwise, you're very likely to measure improperly, and your cake may be dense (too much flour) or oily (too much oil).

Make sure to use fresh olive oil that smells and tastes good to you

You don't need fancy olive oil for this cake. You only need to like the taste and smell of your chosen oil. If you like your olive oil on a salad, you'll like it in this cake. I use extra virgin Spanish olive oil from Trader Joe's.

Beat the olive oil, sugar, and eggs really well

Don't stop beating your olive oil, sugar, and eggs at the beginning of the recipe until the batter has increased in volume. It will also become a pale yellow color as you work to incorporate air into it. This step is part of what helps keep the cake from leaking oil or tasting oily.

Gluten free olive oil cake serving suggestions

I love this simple cake with simple fruit and cream toppings. Here are some more serving suggestions to turn a simple cake into a tiny celebration:

• Serve each slice with berries and fresh whipped cream, as you see in the photos here
• Serve with a fresh sprig of mint and some grapefruit or orange slices, supremed (with the entire membrane and pith cut away)
• Serve plain with a hot cup of coffee or bright, lemony tea

Storage instructions

One of the best parts about this gf olive oil cake is how well it stays fresh at room temperature for at least three days. Just wrap it tightly in individual slices or the unsliced remainder of the cake and store it on the counter.

Freezing gluten free olive oil cake

For longer storage, I don't like refrigerating cake, as I find the refrigerator can dry out baked goods. Instead, wrap each cooled slice tightly in freezer-safe wrap and place it in the freezer for up to two months.

Defrost at room temperature or by unwrapping, sprinkling with water, and in a 275°F toaster oven until fragrant and defrosted in the center.

Ingredient substitution suggestions and variations

Dairy free, gluten free olive oil cake

It's quite easy to make this oil-based cake dairy-free. You only need to replace the buttermilk with a nondairy alternative. I recommend using half nondairy milk (my favorite is unsweetened almond milk) and half plain nondairy yogurt.

Vegan, gluten-free olive oil cake

To make this into a vegan gluten free olive oil cake, you'll need to replace the buttermilk as instructed above, plus the eggs. You can try replacing the eggs with a “chia egg” each (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).

Check your other ingredients carefully, too, if you're a strict vegan. Granulated sugar is often made using bone char.

Gluten free, corn-free olive oil cake

If you can't have corn, you'll need to replace the cornstarch in this recipe. You can try arrowroot or even potato starch in its place. Avoid Cup4Cup gluten free flour entirely, as it's made with quite a bit of cornstarch.

Sugar free, gluten free olive oil cake

Since this olive oil cake is already so moist, I think it might work well with a granulated sugar alternative, like Lankato monkfruit. Watch the texture of the batter, though, as sugar alternatives tend to be drying and you may need to add a bit more buttermilk to compensate.

More GF olive oil cake ideas

This cake recipe, as written, is a beautiful blank canvas for your favorite toppings, as discussed above. For a bit of variation, try one of these flavor twists:

• Gluten free lemon olive oil cake

To add a true lemon flavor, add another tablespoon of finely grated lemon zest, and replace 3 tablespoons of your buttermilk with freshly squeezed lemon juice. You can also use the easy lemon glaze from our gluten free lemon pound cake recipe.

• Gluten free chocolate olive oil cake

To add a chocolate flavor to your olive oil cake, top your cooled cake with the simple chocolate ganache topping from our peanut butter pie. To keep things even simpler, make a simple chocolate sugar glaze.

Whisk together 1 cup (115 g) confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons (10 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Drizzle in milk or water by the drop, and mix until you have a very thick paste. Add more liquid by the micro-drop and mix until thickly pourable, and pour over the cooled cake.

• Powdered sugar topping

Skip the extra granulated sugar on top of the raw cake; instead, dust the top of the cooled cake with powdered sugar.

FAQs

Is olive oil gluten free?

Yes, plain olive oil is safely gluten free, as it's made from a single ingredient: olives. Beware olive oils with added ingredients for flavor (which aren't appropriate for an olive oil cake anyway).

What does olive oil do for a cake?

Olive oil adds flavor and tons of moisture to this cake, without making it taste or feel “oily,” like baking a simple gluten free vanilla cake with oil would do.

Is gluten free olive oil cake healthier than other cakes?

It's still cake, made with sugar and fat, but the fats in olive oil are much healthier than many other oils, as they're monounsaturated and olive oil has many antioxidants.

What's the best olive oil for this gluten free olive oil cake recipe?

Extra virgin olive oil is made with cold-pressed olives, unlike regular olive oil, which is made with a blend of more highly processed and cold-pressed oils.

What's the best gluten free flour for olive oil cake?

To ensure the most tender crumb, I really like to use something like gluten free cake flour for this recipe. To achieve that, I use a combination of Better Batter classic blend gluten free flour and cornstarch—measured by weight, of course!

Can I make gluten free olive oil cake with almond flour?

If you'd like to. make an almond flour olive oil cake, you'll need a separate recipe. Almond flour can't be used in a recipe like this, which is developed for a rice-based, all-purpose gluten free flour blend.

I recommend trying extra virgin olive oil in place of the coconut oil in our Paleo chocolate cake. For a plain almond flour cake, our almond flour sponge cake won't disappoint!

Can I make this gluten free olive oil cake in advance?

Yes! This cake will stay fresh for up to three days on the kitchen counter, when wrapped tightly. If I know I'm going to serve this cake in five days, though, I'd wrap the cooled cake very tightly and freeze it.

How do I know when a gf olive oil cake is ready?

This cake is ready when a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (no moist batter!). The cake will also appear set all the way to the center, and will spring back when pressed gently with a fingertip in the middle.

Do I have to refrigerate gluten free olive oil cake?

No! I don't like to store cakes in the refrigerator, which tends to dry them out. And this cake is so moist that it stays fresh for days, covered, on the counter.

How to make gluten free olive oil cake