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Baking & sweets · Italian

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Cocoa bloomed in hot coffee, eggs whisked to ribbons, and fruity olive oil for a moist, fudgy crumb that improves for days.

Prep
20 min
Cook
40 min
Total
1 hr
Makes
10 slices

Added . Suitable for: Vegetarian.

Illustration of chocolate olive oil cake

Why this version

  • Blooming the cocoa in hot coffee intensifies the chocolate flavour; the coffee itself is barely noticeable.
  • Whisking eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage gives the cake lift without much baking powder.
  • A mild, fruity olive oil reads as richness; a peppery one competed with the chocolate.

Ingredients

Makes
10 slices
Units
  • 45 g cocoa powder
  • 120 ml hot coffee or water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 120 g plain flour
  • 50 g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ tsp fine salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 180 g caster sugar
  • 150 ml mild extra-virgin olive oil
  • 75 g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 23 cm springform tin and line the base with baking paper.

  2. Whisk the cocoa into the hot coffee until smooth, then stir in the vanilla and let it cool slightly.

  3. In another bowl, whisk the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

  4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes, until pale and thick enough that a ribbon from the beaters sits on the surface. With the mixer running, pour in the oil in a thin stream, then the cocoa mixture.

  5. Fold in the dry ingredients in two additions, then the chopped chocolate.

  6. Pour into the tin and bake for 35–42 minutes, until the top springs back and a skewer comes out with a few damp crumbs. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, release, and cool completely. Dust with icing sugar.

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What we tested

  • Neutral oil instead of olive oil: moist, but flat-tasting.
  • Eggs whisked briefly, not to ribbons: denser, brownie-like cake. Good, but not this one.
  • All ground almonds, no flour: gluten-free and lovely, but crumbly when sliced warm.

Keeping

Keeps for 4 days in an airtight tin and gets fudgier each day.

Swaps and notes

Serve with crème fraîche and a few raspberries. For gluten-free, use 170 g ground almonds and no flour.

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