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Vegan Olive Oil Cake

Photo by Alexandra Burghardt
  • Prep time
    20 minutes
  • Cook time
    1 hour
  • Makes
    9 inch cake
Author Notes

I adapted Maialino’s Olive Oil Cake to be able to make it for my vegan mother – a perfect brunch dessert for Mother’s Day! My first go around, I tried subbing out the eggs for ground flax seed, and the milk for coconut milk, which ended up with a greasy dense strange tasting cake. Trying to find a better way to help give the cake some lift without eggs, I swapped the whole milk for vegan buttermilk, aquafaba for the eggs, and lowered the olive oil to one cup. Those did the trick and I ended up with a delicious, pudding-like cake, perfect for a summer dessert or brunch treat! —Alexandra Burghardt

Ingredients

  • 1 cup

    almond milk (or other dairy free milk)


  • 1 tablespoon

    apple cider vinegar


  • 1 cup

    olive oil


  • 9 tablespoons

    aquafaba


  • .5 cups

    orange juice


  • 1

    zest of 1 orange


  • 1.25 cups

    sugar


  • 2 cups

    all purpose flour


  • .5 teaspoons

    baking soda


  • .5 teaspoons

    baking powder


  • 1.5 teaspoons

    salt

  • Fruit for topping

Directions
  1. Add the apple cider vinegar to the almond milk and whisk to combine, set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 – grease and line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
  3. Whisk together all the wet ingredients very well – aquafaba, olive oil, orange juice, orange zest, and milk / cider mix. I whisked until foamy.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet – sugar, flour, baking soda and powder, salt. My lazy method is to dump them all on top of the wet, whisk the dry stuff on top a bit to combine, before mixing it all in together.
  5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake 50-60min, until golden on top and springy to the touch. If it’s underbaked it will have a more oily texture so bake it a bit longer than you think.
  6. Let cool in the pan 30 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting. Top with fruit if desired (always a must in my book!)

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