Gluten-Free Lemon Olive Oil Cake

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A soft, moist and tender Lemon Olive Oil Cake that is also gluten-free! This olive oil cake with lemon uses a mild olive oil for a rich buttery flavor and is naturally sweetened with honey. Better yet, this simple olive oil cake uses just one bowl to make preparation so easy.

This olive oil lemon cake is one of my entertaining go-to recipes because it’s so easy. I love to serve this cake at brunch with my Summer Farro Salad, or for dessert after this Oven Baked Fish in Tomato Sauce with a delicious cup of coffee.

Let me just begin by saying, this may be the best olive oil cake recipe I’ve ever made or eaten. I was inspired to create this recipe from my honeymoon in Italy where I had some of the most delicious cakes and desserts made with lemon and Italian olive oil.

After being so inspired and dreaming for months about the Italian lemon olive oil cake, I decided to create a version of my own. My olive oil cake with lemon has a twist, I knew I wanted to create a healthier version that was both gluten-free and naturally sweetened with honey.

Olive Oil Lemon Cake Recipe Features

• One Bowl Cake Recipe: You need just one bowl for easy prep and cleanup for this simple olive oil cake! It’s a decadent and fancy cake that’s so easy to make, there’s really no excuse.
• Gluten-Free Dessert: A combination of almond flour and oat flour keeps this cake moist, rich and tender but also gluten-free.
• Naturally Sweetened: Step away from the sugar, I wanted to use the natural floral sweetness of honey to compliment the olive oil in this cake.
• Easy Dessert for Beginners: This cake takes 10 minutes to stir together, just as easy as a box mix! So give it a try and impress your friends.

Citrus Olive Oil Cake Ingredients

Great news, most of the ingredients for this Gluten-Free Lemon Olive Oil Cake you probably already have at home.

• Almond Flour: Helps make this cake gluten-free plus it adds a richness in flavor and makes this cake very tender. My favorite brand is Bob’s Red Mill.
• Oat Flour: Another gluten-free essential flour, you can make this easily by blending old fashioned oats in a high speed blender or food processor until finely ground, I explain more here.
• Eggs: Use large eggs for this recipe, but if you want to make a vegan olive oil cake use this formula: 1 large egg = 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Use a mild flavor olive oil in desserts for a sweeter taste. Be sure the olive oil is extra-virgin so that the oil is cold-pressed and unrefined. I like Mild California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Honey: Best sweetener to naturally sweeten this cake! Use a local honey when possible for additional health benefits that are anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial.
• Lemon: Be sure to only use fresh lemon juice here! You can adjust the lemon flavor by zesting more or less lemons- I recommend about 2-3 lemons. This cake would also be great using fresh oranges or limes!

How to Make Gluten-Free Lemon Olive Oil Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients: This includes the almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the center of the well: This includes the eggs, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, honey and vanilla.
6. Whisk the wet ingredients gently in the well.
7. Gently fold with a rubber spatula the dry and wet ingredients together to combine.
8. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan.
9. Bake the lemon olive oil cake for 25 to 35 minutes.
10. Let the olive oil cake cool for 20 minutes then enjoy!

Which Olive Oil to Use in Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Baking with olive oil can seem scary, you want to make sure that the flavor doesn’t come out too savory. First of all, I recommend using extra-virgin olive oil. This is because it’s healthier and the flavor is more pure. Extra-virgin olive oil is made by cold-pressing the olives to extract the oil rather than heating olives to extract olive oil. The result is a pure, unrefined flavorful olive oil that is the highest quality.

Be sure that when buying olive oil for baking, it’s a mild flavored olive oil. We want oil that is buttery and lighter in flavor to compliment the delicious honey and lemon flavors in the cake. A robust olive oil is too strong and will overpower the cake flavors. I like California Olive Ranch Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.

Simple Olive Oil Cake FAQs

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