Can Cake Be Made from Olive Oil?

If you bake cakes, you know that sometimes you’ll run out of some ingredients. Maybe you've run out of eggs, or you've run out of sugar or you've run out of baking powder. But what if you run out of butter and you only have olive oil in the cupboard? Are olive oil cakes better than butter-based?

CAN YOU SUBSTITUTE OLIVE OIL FOR BUTTER WHEN BAKING A CAKE?

The short answer is “Yes, you can”. The long answer is that you’ll get a much denser cake, so you may need to adjust your recipe. Baking with olive oil is a delicious and healthy way to add flavor to your favorite baked goods. And in addition to the flavor it adds, olive oil also contains healthy fat.

It’s called monounsaturated fat. And it is high in antioxidants and oleic acid. These have been shown to lower cholesterol levels and protect against heart disease. Bottom line is that olive oil is healthy for you. And that is a good thing.

Olive oil can be used to make lots of recipes, from salad dressing to an olive oil cake, and you can even use it on your skin and hair. But when it comes to baking, or specifically, when substituting olive oil for butter, you should less than the equivalent butter amount.

The resulting baked goods come out more moist than usual. So it’s a good idea to be in a trial-and-error mindset the first few times until you’re more comfortable with it.

BUT, IS OLIVE OIL BETTER THAN BUTTER IN CAKES?

Believe it or not, olive oil has a place in baking cakes, and it could make a big difference in the taste and texture of your cakes. Olive oil is a liquid fat that is extracted from the olive fruit.

This fruit contains water and oil. During production, the oil is extracted with free-press, meaning that no chemicals or heating are used. The oil is then refined after extraction. There are three types of olive oil: extra-virgin, virgin, and refined. All are edible and have different uses.

There are two primary reasons for baking with olive oil instead of butter in cakes:

(1) Makes More Moist Than Usual

Olive oil gives moistness to your cakes. Why? Well, olive oil’s unsaturated fats react differently to high heat. When a pan of cake batter is placed on heat, the liquid begins to evaporate but, at the same time, a thin coat of oil forms on top of the cake. As the cake bakes, that oil coats the cake and traps moisture, making for a soft, dense, and simply the best olive oil cake.

(2) Gives Cake Fruitier Taste

When a cake is made with olive oil instead of the usual butter, it has a fruitier taste. Try it and make a lemon olive oil cake. There’s a reason why we use olive oil with salad. It’s because the olive oil taste blends well with greens and fruits in our salad. But it’s not all the same. The fruity taste depends on the makers. Just test out the one you like to eat.