This Almond Olive Oil Cake is a rich melt-in-your-mouth cake that is moist and fluffy. The delightful scent of orange makes this a refreshing cake, and the poppy seeds give it a unique element. You may also want to call this an Orange Poppy Seed Cake.
Everyone has a cake that turns them into a cake person (although some of us are just born as cake people). This Almond Olive Oil Cake with Poppy Seeds and Orange is the one that turned my husband. I'm not one normally for hyperbole, but this Almond Olive Oil Cake really is a slice of heaven!
This recipe makes a refreshing Almond Olive Oil Cake with Orange and Poppy Seeds
This particular Almond Olive Oil Cake with Poppy Seeds has a hint of orange flavor that gives it brightness. This cake is a mishmash of several different types of cakes.
It probably can happily go by a few different names: Almond Olive Oil Cake, Orange Poppy Seed Cake, Olive Oil Orange Cake, Olive Oil Cake, or even just a Poppy Seed Cake.
It really just depends what you want to emphasize about this cake, but the key elements that make this cake recipe different from your classic cakes are: olive oil, orange, and poppy seeds. Those three ingredients make magic when together.
This is a moist and fluffy cake that is delicious served for breakfast with coffee
This Poppy Seed Cake definitely tastes like a cake but it is light enough that I would class it more as a "breakfast cake". It has less sugar than many other olive oil cake recipes, and without any frosting, I don't feel guilty starting the day off with cake. Plus, it's a great pairing with my morning cup of coffee.
The almond and orange flavors soften each other and blend in well with the olive oil cake overall. This light flavor also fits in well with the texture, as each bite starts with a springy bite before slowly melting into a sweet virgin olive oil flavor right in your mouth.
This Orange Poppy Seed Cake only takes about 10 minutes to prep. The hardest part might be waiting the 30 minutes it sits in the oven, and the 10 minute cooling time after you take it out of the oven.
Olive oil cakes are easy to make! Follow the simple steps in the recipe below.
For those who are used to baking cakes, many of these steps for this Orange Poppy Seed Cake might be very obvious. It's an easy cake recipe.
How to make Almond Olive Oil Cake
Simply preheat your oven and while waiting for it, mix your dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another, then mix both together until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a springform pan, pop it into the oven, and voila! With just a bit of waiting, your olive oil orange cake is done.
Before serving, I suggest dusting this Almond Olive Oil Cake with powdered sugar and orange zest for both a mouth-watering look and to accentuate the flavors of the actual cake.
The idea of adding poppy seeds to this cake recipe came from Lottie + Doof's Poppy Seed Cake. My recipe certainly does not have as many poppy seeds as Lottie + Doof's recipe (they use ¾ cup of poppy seeds!). But after reading the post years ago, it really stuck with me! I love the recipe, but I wanted something a bit different.
There are so many poppy seeds in this cake you might as well call it an Orange Poppy Seed Cake
Several years ago too, I fell in love with this Almond Olive Oil Cake recipe from Gina DePalma. Her cake is a bit too sweet for my taste though, and really is more of an afternoon cake or dessert.
You can say this Almond Olive Oil Cake with Poppy Seeds is the love child between those two recipes, with a few tweaks and additions of my own. I made it more of a breakfast cake, and it certainly does go hand in hand with a hot cup of coffee.
Almond Olive Oil Cake with Orange and Poppy Seeds
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour (ground almonds)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon quality vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- grated zest of ¼ of a medium orange
- ½ cup orange juice (preferably without pulp)
- 1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Lightly oil or line a 9-inch round springform pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add in the eggs. Using a hand beater, quickly beat the eggs to break up the yolks. Add in the sugar and beat it in thoroughly on medium speed, about 45 seconds. Add the olive oil and beat on medium speed, until the mixture is a bit lighter in color and has thickened slightly, about 45 seconds. Add in the vanilla extract, almond extract, zest and orange juice, and beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 30 seconds.
- Add the dry ingredients and the poppy seeds to the bowl and beat on low speed until they are thoroughly combined and you have a smooth batter, about 45 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the cake pan halfway through to ensure even browning. The cake is done when the sides have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan, it springs back lightly when touched, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the pan, then gently remove it from the pan and allow it cool completely on a rack.
- Dust with powdered sugar and additional orange zest when serving.
Joyce says
This is delicious! Made it this morning and wowed me and my husband. Also appreciated how it was no too sweet.
I did sub half of the orange juice for lemon. Loving all the citrus.
This recipe is a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing this with the world!
Aary says
Could you please tell me which types of orange juice(mandarins, clementines) works well with the recipe?
Tina Jui says
Hi - I just use regular orange juice. But I'm sure both mandarin and clementine juice would be delicious!
Aary says
Please suggest which orange juice tastes good for the cake?
Glo says
This was delicious and I've made it twice over the past week! However, you forgot to add the poppy seeds in the actual step-by-step directions.
Tina Jui says
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for the comment. I meant to say add in the poppy seeds with the dry ingredients, and have updated the recipe!
Cindy @ A Uniquely Edible Magic says
It's a pity poppy seeds are prohibited here, but I bet the cake would still taste exceptional even without the poppy seeds!
Tina Jui says
Oh no! Where are you?
Cindy @ A Uniquely Edible Magic says
I spend half my time in Singapore and the other half in the UK, but because I travel back so often I don't eat poppy seed cakes while I'm in the UK either—I'd rather play it safe and get through customs without being stopped for false-positive drug tests! :p
Still looking for that opportunity to try poppy seeds one day, but in the meantime... this orange, almond and olive combination (and the crumb structure!) is good enough for me :)
Tina Jui says
So, I didn't realize poppy seeds were banned from certain countries until you mentioned it and I started looking it up. Funny how things are so different around the world. I feel like I'm living on the edge with this recipe now!
Vivien says
Looks amazing! Can you make this gluten free? If so, what kind of flour should I use instead of all purpose flour?