This Glazed Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake is sweet, wonderfully moist from the oil oil, citrusy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. This recipe is perfect for Winter and Spring celebrations or simple Sunday afternoons!
Recipe by Leidi Rodriguez
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Hello hello and welcome back to the show! You know, the one where we talk about all things creamy, crunchy, sugary, and sweet galore? Thanks for tuning in again!
Today we’re talking about a TIP TOP favorite of mine: olive oil cake. That’s right, the way to my heart is a thick slice of tangy, tender EVOO-infused cake. Can you blame me?
Glazed Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake is an easy, flavor rich recipe I make more often than I’d like to admit. Made with simple ingredients and served up warm with a hot cup of tea or coffee, this cake is the definition of heaven on earth. Or at least mine.
What’s An Olive Oil Cake?
If you love the taste of olive oil, you’re in for a treat today. Olive oil cake is super-rich, dense, and sweet. EVOO is used in the place of butter, making for an ultra-moist and decadent dessert (or snack). You’ll totally be able to taste the oil in this recipe, which I personally love. To ensure the best flavor, use a high-quality EVOO.
Ingredients
There are all but 10 ingredients in this recipe. I promise you that anyone can pull off a 10 item recipe, including you!
This is what you’ll need:
- ALL PURPOSE FLOUR- to add as much lift to this cake as possible, sift the flour.
- CORNMEAL- this time around, I used fine yellow cornmeal but I have experimented with coarser ground options in the past. Coarse grind cornmeal adds a unique texture.
- BAKING POWDER- always make sure to use fresh, active baking powder.
- SALT-kosher salt is king!
- SUGAR- most often, I use cane sugar in my baking but you can use granulated or cane. Both will yield the same results.
- MEYER LEMONS- Meyer lemons are a small, sweet hybrid lemon that tastes like a cross between a regular lemon and an orange. They’re a bit more mellow. If you’d like, regular lemons can be used for this recipe.
- EGGS- it’s absolutely necessary for the eggs to be room temperature for this recipe. Eggs incorporate air and bind together the batter. Cold eggs will make for a separated, heavy batter that doesn’t rise as well in the oven.
- VANILLA- spending the extra cash on pure vanilla extract will make the biggest difference in your baking.
- POWDERED SUGAR- for a smooth glaze, sift the powdered sugar.
- HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM- the key to a silky glaze is a splash or two of cream. Add more to thin out the mix or add more sugar to thicken it.
How to Make a Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Alright, you wanna know the real reason why I love olive oil cakes? There’s no butter in it! That means no waiting for that pesky stone cold butter to come to room temperature. Because let’s be honest, none of us remember to take it out the fridge ahead of time. And if you do, well, you go glen coco.
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There’s not much that goes into making this tender-crumbed cake. In fact, it’s one of the easiest cakes I’ve ever baked. It’s as simple as sifting together dry ingredients, slowly adding the wet ones, and pulling together a batter.
Pour that smooth, lemony batter into your prepared pan of choice (see section below) and bake the cake for just under an hour. While you wait for the cooked cake to cool in the pan, make that sticky-icky syrup! Brush that bad boy over the top of your inverted cake and watch all that shiny goodness seep through.
Once your cake has cooled to room temperature, whisk up that glaze and slowly drizzle it over the top. This is arguably the best part. If you’ve got any extra lemon zest, go ahead and sprinkle that on too!
Stop right there! Take a moment to stare down that beauty! And once you’ve really taken it in, cut yourself a fat slice and enjoy. A second slice won’t hurt either.
Do I have to Use a Bundt Pan?
No! If you don’t own a Bundt pan, or you prefer not to use one, this recipe can also be made in a pound cake tin or two 6-cup loaf pans. But, no matter what you use, be sure to thoroughly grease and flour it.
Storage of Leftovers
Not only does Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake keep well at room temperature, it actually gets better the first day or two after it’s baked. The syrup and glaze seep into the cake, making it moister and more flavorful.
When it’s not being served, store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container or cover it tightly with plastic wrap. An olive oil cake will keep for 3 days. After that, it’s best to refrigerate it for up to 2 more days.
Alternatively, you can freeze lemon olive oil cake for up to 3 months. To do so, double wrap it with cling film (plastic wrap) and a layer of foil. Thaw at room temperature for 3-4 hours, or until soft and tender again.
Best Lemon Recipes
I’ve got the lemons if you’re trying to make some lemonade! Get your hands on some citrus and churn out a few more of GBC’s BEST lemon recipes:
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Blueberry Lemon Cake
- Lemon Cinnamon Rolls
- Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake
- Best Lemon Cupcakes
- Lemon Layer Cake
- Lemon Loaf Cake
Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake
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Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 1/4 cup granulated sugar or cane sugar
- 1 lb meyer lemons, zested and juiced *The lemons should produce about ¾-1 cup of juice. Be sure to measure that! Any leftover juice can be used for the glaze.
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the Syrup
- 1/4 cup meyer lemon juice
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar or cane sugar
For the Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream up to 3 tablespoons
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup Bundt pan with butter and a little flour.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the eggs aerate, thicken and lighten in color.
- Add the vanilla to the large bowl, whisking to fully combine. While still whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
- Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the lemon juice to the rest of the ingredients. Mix until a smooth batter forms. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes back clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the pan onto a wire cooling rack.
For the Syrup
- Place lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until simmering and all sugar has dissolved.
- While the cake is still hot, poke it with a toothpick or skewer and immediately brush with syrup.
- Allow the cake to cool completely.
For the Glaze
- Place powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla into a 2 cup measuring cup. Stir with a fork until fully combined. Drizzle over cake.
- Top the cake with any leftover lemon zest you might have and serve!
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Hi! I’m just curious as to why you don’t also have measurements by weight?
Hi there! That’s such a great question—thank you for asking! I totally understand that a lot of bakers love using weight measurements for that extra level of precision. I personally grew up baking using cups and spoons, and that’s how I still love to develop and share my recipes today. It’s how my grandmother taught me, and it’s part of that comforting, passed-down tradition that makes baking feel like home to me.
That said, I completely get the value of baking by weight—it’s just not how I test my recipes, so I don’t feel comfortable converting to grams since it might not turn out quite the same. I always want to make sure what I share reflects exactly how I bake in my own kitchen, so you can get the same delicious results at home.
But I so appreciate you bringing this up! I’m always thinking about how to make my recipes more helpful for everyone, so I’ll definitely keep it in mind.
Very useful to list your flour weight in grams. Going to make it noW
Can I make this into a half sheet cake?
Hi Susan, I don’t see why not! I do not have a recipe for it as I haven’t tested it.
Cannot wait to try this. When you juice the lemons, you say they could produce between 3/4-1 cup of juice. How much exactly do you add to the cake batter? 3/4 cup or 1 cup? Feels like a quarter cup of liquid one way or the other can make a huge difference in final outcome.
Yep 3/4 cup for this.
This cake looks so perfect for spring! I never would have thought to include cornmeal.
I hope you enjoy!
This sounds delicious! Cannot wait to make it! Is there N alternative flour you can use in place of all purpose flour? Some of the women at my office need a gluten free dessert! Thanks!
You can substitute the all purpose flour for a gluten free flour that says it can be a replacement at a 1:1 ratio. Hope that helps and everyone enjoys!
Wonderful recipe. Everyone loved it. Do you think this could be made with blood oranges instead of Meyer lemons?
I don’t see why not! If you try it you’ll have to let me know what you think!