This light lemon drizzle olive oil cake uses oil in place of butter for an unusual twist on the ever popular lemon drizzle cake. The cake is dairy free and is perfect for a mid-afternoon treat.
Olive oil vs butter
While it can never be claimed that cake is a healthy food I am a firm believer that cake and other sweet treats are all part of a healthy diet if eaten in moderation. And baking is as much about sharing as the baking itself so you can always share the spoils.
If you use my recipes a lot you will know that a lot of my bakes use butter. Personally I do not use margarine as I feel strongly that as butter is a natural product, overall it will be a healthier product to something made in a factory. The calories are the same and butter tastes soooo much nicer.
But there are times when it is good to try alternatives, such as oil. The biggest advantage of oil is that it tends to be lower in saturated fats, although now the jury is now out on whether saturated fats really are more unhealthy than non saturated fats.
It also makes this cake suitable for anyone who needs to have a dairy free diet.
Again, when it comes to oil I like to use one that is as natural and as unrefined as possible and my two oils of choice for all cooking are cold pressed rapeseed oil (as it less refined than most vegetable oils and is grown in the UK so less food miles) and extra virgin olive oil for flavour.
New improved lemon drizzle olive oil cake
Over time as well as producing new recipes for Only Crumbs Remain I have also been updating the older posts, often because my photography has improved.
The original lemon drizzle olive oil cake recipe on Only Crumbs Remain produced a cake that was light and full of flavour. I loved it and so did many of you as it is one of my most popular posts. But on revisiting the post to see if there was any improvements to be made, even though the photography was fine it has always bugged me that the cake I made then had sunk in the middle.
So I remade the cake several times each time tweaking the recipe slightly. I tried a different shapes and sizes of tins and altered the recipe slightly, but no matter how I tweaked the recipe it always sank a little in the middle. Something was not quite right.
So how could I really improve the recipe? Could I make a cake equally tasty but without the tendency to sink?
I decided to go back to the drawing board and start again, and yes, now I think i have the perfect lemon drizzle cake made with olive oil. This new version was adapted from my recipe for Almond Bizcocho which I wrote for Recipes Made Easy a few years back ( an orange loaf cake made with rapeseed oil).
Made with lemons and with the addition of a lovely drizzle of tangy lemon flavoured icing, I think it is equally as delicious as the original cake but without the dip in the middle!
The wonderfully flavoursome moist light crumb remains and even with the addition of almonds which are not in the original recipe it's predominant flavour is lemon, (as you would hope with it being a lemon drizzle cake!) but the subtle notes of olive oil can also still be picked out.
And it is super easy to make no mixers required for this, just a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon.
If you have already made the original lemon cake then do try this one and tell me what you think. I hope you will agree this is even better. But if you would prefer to stick to the one you know you can find the original lemon drizzle cake recipe here.
Which Olive oil do I use for making cakes?
Now, I'm sure you're fully aware that there are many types of olive oil available in the supermarket these days, each having their own qualities and being suitable for different types of cooking and food preparation.
Perhaps the safest option (flavour wise) for this cake is to use a light olive oil and leave the stronger oils for salads. It is more refined than extra virgin olive oil but has a more subtle flavour which will not overpower the lemon. The flavour of extra virgin olive oil will vary considerably depending on how and where it is produced and although I only use this, I actually like playing around with the different brands and seeing which work to my liking.
Or like in my Almond bizcocho you could use an unrefined rapeseed oil instead.
Try this cake and see if your friends can tell that you have used oil in place of butter.
Lemon drizzle olive oil cake step by step
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the ground almonds. Add the eggs. Add the oil, lemon, zest and juice. Mix to a smooth batter. Pour into tin and bake. make the lemon drizzle icing. Drizzle icing over cake and allow to set.
📖 Recipe
Lemon drizzle olive oil cake
Equipment
- 20cm (8in) spring clip or loosed bottomed round cake tin.
- baking parchment
Ingredients
Lmon olive oil cake
- 200 ml (7floz) olive oil
- 200 g (7oz) plain flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 75 g (3oz) ground almonds
- 175 g (6oz) golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 unwaxed lemon zest & juice
Lemon drizzle icing
- 1 tablespoon lemon curd optional
- 150 g (5oz) icing sugar
- 1 unwaxed lemon Zest & Juice
Instructions
To make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 170℃ (Fan 150℃) / 3325℉ / Gas 3. Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8in) round tin with baking parchment.
- Sift 200g (7oz) plain flour, 2tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir in 175g (6oz) caster sugar and 75g (3oz) ground almonds.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and drop in 3 eggs. Pour in 200 ml (7floz) olive oil and the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon. Mix well with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake in the centre of the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until risen and golden brown and starting to pull away from the sides of the tin. A skewer inserted in the centre of the cake should also come out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin before carefully transferring to a wire rack and allow to cool for another 10 minutes.
To Make the drizzle icing
- Place 1 tablespoon lemon curd, if using into a bowl. Stir with a spoon to slacken it with either a pastry brush or the back of a teaspoon carefully coat the top of the warm cake with the lemon curd.
- Place 150g (5oz) icing sugar and the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon into a bowl and stir until smooth.
- Spoon the lemon icing over the top of the cake and use the back of the spoon to encourage it to trickle down the sides of the cake a little.
- Allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes
- Use either a light olive oil or extra virgin. The extra virgin will bring a more robust flavour, whereas the light version is far more mellow without overpowering the lemon.
- Alternatively, try an unrefined rapeseed oil
- Add 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary with the lemon zest and juice for a delicious variation.
Sue Stothard says
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
perfect thanks
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Glad you think so Sue. Thanks for taking time to comment and rate the recipe.
Francesca Nelson says
Such a delightful easy recipe with only one bowl to wash! I make it in a loaf tin for easy slicing.
I have adapted it to other flavours - today’s was blackcurrants. I substituted the almonds (didn’t have any) with ground flaxseed. And used half olive oil/half rapeseed oil, plus a large slug of vanilla extract.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I'm so happy you like it and fabulous that you have found some ways to adapt it to make other flavours. Thank you for taking the time to share your comments
julie Murdoch-George says
Easy light lemon drizzle, not keen on icing on top so I would omit this but lemon curd in centre is delicious!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased you liked it, without the icing it's no longer a drizzle cake 😂😂 Though i confess my favourite drizzle is made with granulated sugar and lemon juice for extra crunch. I do love the idea of adding lemon curd. And ofcourse if you make your own (my recipe is here ) even better!
Wendy Christopher says
Okay, I've just tried out this recipe, but swapping out coconut oil for the olive oil and ground pistachios for the ground almonds. And... OH. MY. LORD!!! It came out better than I could've hoped. Rose like a dream, and the texture of the sponge is gorgeous. And best of all, it was such an easy recipe to follow. Have saved this recipe to my favourites and will DEFINITELY be making it again!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Delighted you liked it so much and your changes worked out
Wendy says
I'm going to try this recipe, but swapping out the olive oil for coconut oil (I use coconut oil a lot in my cakes,) and ground pistachios instead of almonds (I've used them in cakes too, and they give a nice subtle flavour and colour, and, combined with the coconut oil, a lovely fluffy but moist texture.) I've been looking for a while for a dairy-free recipe for lemon drizzle cake that doesn't omit the eggs, and this looks like it could be a good one! Will update on how the coconut oil/pistachio swap goes too.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I now know that you have made it with the changes with success and I'm pleased you liked it so much. I too sometime use pistachios in bakes as I do like their flavour.
Emma says
I've never left a comment before for anything but felt this cake really deserved all the amazing praise it gets. Thank you so much for this recipe. I've recently found out two of my three kids are severely dairy intollerant and this recipe has been a god send. It's amazing and they do not feel like they are missing out at all as it is our favourite lemon cake of all time. Again, many thanks.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Really pleased you like this cake so much Emma and glad the kids do too it can be tough on young ones missing out when they have food intolerances so glad this suits.
Serena says
Thank you very much for posting a great recipe. There’s nothing better than an olive oil cake, so moist and light.
I made a couple of alterations, mainly because I’d forgotten to buy some of the ingredients (doh!). But, hey, that’s what cooking’s all about, experimenting.
I replaced the ground almonds in your recipe with coconut flour. The coconut flour made the batter a bit too stiff so I threw in a bit of milk until it was more liquidy. I also added a dash of cinnamon powder to the batter. And when I was pouring the batter into the cake tin, I poured half and then sprinkled some raisins and white chocolate chips and then added the rest of the batter on top so there was a “surprise” in the middle, haha. It’s a very nice cake.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Serena Im delighted you liked the cake and that you alteration worked so well. I might well try adding some raisins myself some time. Sounds good.
Wendy says
Yeah, coconut flour is VERY tricky to bake with! It sucks up liquid like cat litter (not a very tasty comparison for a cake, but pretty accurate) You really need a recipe that's specifically written for using coconut flour to get good results (I even tried half-and-half of coconut flour and plain flour in my recipe, and the batter STILL came out like half-set cement before I even put it in the oven..!)
Freda says
My daughter loves this cake so much, she asked me to make it as her wedding cake! A modified version might have three 6" layers and have a lemon butter icing instead of the expected drizzle. If I pour a lemon syrup on the cakes,should I do that when they are warm? Would they still freeze?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Freda that's lovely to hear your daughter love it so much and I'm sure it would be very nice in wedding cake. I have not actually tried it but I can not see any reason why you couldn't freeze it but I might be inclined to freeze the cake plain and add the drizzle after defrosting.
Best wishes for the big day when it come and do let me know how you get on I would love to see pics of the finished cake.
Eva Farkas says
OMG, so easy to make and tastes sooo posh. The perfect recipe for a dairy free cake. Thank you !
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
You are welcome Eva, so pleased you liked it. Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment I love feed back like this 🙂
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
This looks beautiful Jacqui, and you can't go wrong with lemon cake
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I agree I love all cakes citrusy 🙂
Sarah Holt says
This looks so delicious, I love olive oil and lemon cakes, so I'm sure I would love this also!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I'm sure you will too 🙂
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
I love a lemon cake and this is the kind of drizzle I like (I'm not so much a fan of the crunchy sugar drizzles). This is the perfect, simple cake.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Oh I have to disagree I love the crunchy sugar drizzles but this type is delicious and does make a lovely change.
Corina Blum says
I love making a lemon drizzle cake with olive oil! This one sounds really lovely with the ground almonds too.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I think so and the flavour of the oil adds an extra dimension
Miriam Leech says
Made this morning with lemons picked from our tree, not had chance to try it yet but the recipe was easy to follow.
Thanks x ?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Oh wow your own lemons! I can only dream of that. Hope you liked the cake