Oh goodness, it’s been awhile since I’ve made a cake this fluffy, this moist and after leaving it unattended and uncovered (sliced!) while I took the kids to a birthday party, I came home and it was just as fluffy and soft as when I left. Witchcraft! You absolutely must make this cake.
Recipe origins
This recipe’s cake mama is this mint lemon olive oil cake. I swapped out the mint, added more flour but opted for cake flour for an even fluffier and tendermore texture, added more lemon juice and thus had to adjust the leavening. I also gave it a lemon soak, for maximum lemon flavor =)
Recipe Ingredients
Olive oil: choose this very wisely, as if you have a strong flavored olive oil (especially extra virgin) the flavor will come through. I loved the strong evoo combination with the lemon so that’s what I used. If you don’t want any olive flavor use something flavorless.
Lemons: if your lemons are not organic, wash and rub the outside to remove the outer wax coating before you zest them. Zest them then juice.
Sugar: fine granulated. Reducing the sugar will compromise the ‘moisture’ level of the cake.
Cake flour: cake flour is milled finer and has added starch. It makes for a very tender cake. If you don’t have it you can use all purpose and swap 2 tablespoons of the flour for corn or tapioca starch.
Baking powder & soda: leavening for the cake. Check the expiration dates on the containers!
Kefir or buttermilk: Please don’t diy the buttermilk with milk & lemon/vinegar! It’s really never the same. If you have neither kefir or buttermilk, thin out some greek yogurt with water to make it pourable.
Eggs: two large eggs. Set them in a bowl of warm water to bring them to room temperature.
Salt & vanilla: fine sea salt and pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Those little specks in my cake are from my vanilla.
How to make Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Prep the pan: use a tall (3 inch high) round 8 inch cake pan. You can also use a 9 inch (2 inch high), the cake will likely be done a bit earlier. Brush the pan all over with butter then coat it with flour. Alternatively, use a baking spray.
Zest the lemons and rub into the sugar: this releases the oils from the zest to bring out their flavor.
Beat the sugar & eggs: Once the eggs go into the bowl on the sugar, immediately start beating. If you leave eggs in sugar without mixing them, the sugar will ‘cook’ the eggs.
Beat the sugar & eggs until very, very light and fluffy. You’ll see the color change from yellow to a very pale yellow. Add the salt and vanilla as you beat.
TIP: If using a stand mixer, scrape the bottom and sides every now and then to ensure even mixing.
Slowly beat in the oil: With the mixer on, slowly pour in the olive oil to allow it to emulsify. If you dump it all in at once the oil will stay separate from the sugar/eggs.
Sift in the flour & leavening: this will get rid of any flour lumps (common with cake flour) and will make it much easier for the flour to blend into the light mix, that way we avoid having to over mix the batter.
With the mixer on, add the buttermilk and lemon juice: once the flour is halfway mixed, keep the mixer on and slowly pour the buttermilk in then the lemon juice. Mix and stop as soon as everything looks well blended. Pour into the pan.
Bake until the cake tester comes out clean (I tend to test my cakes by pressing the top to see if it springs back).
Make the soak and pour over the cake: add the sugar and lemon juice to a small pot and set over medium heat. The mix doesn’t need to boil but the sugar should be fully dissolved.
Out of the oven, poke holes into the cake then pour the syrup over it. In the video you’ll see I turned the cake onto a plate and then poured the soak: this just made for a mess as I got a ton of syrup running off the cake onto the plate. Keep it in the pan!
The cake will be sticky from the syrup so you can opt to keep it in the pan or quickly turn it out onto a plate.
How to store the cake
It stays unbearably moist and soft for days – especially if kept in an airtight container, at room temperature.
Can I use a different citrus to make this?
Every citrus has a different acidity level, lemons have a high pH (1.3 times meyer lemons for example) compared to oranges and other citrus fruits. This is important to consider because the lemon juice in the cake is balanced against the leavening so if you use something less acidic, there’s a good chance the cake won’t rise as it should.
Lemon Olive Oil Cake Recipe
Lemon Olive Oil Cake | Buttermilk by Sam
Prep Time: 20 minutes mins
Cook Time: 35 minutes mins
Yields: 1 9" round cake
5 from 16 votes
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Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- Zest of 3-4 lemons organic or washed and rubbed to remove the wax
- 200 g or 1 cup fine granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 145 g or ⅔ cup olive oil use an oil you like the taste of, it comes through in the cake!
- 225 g or 1 ¾ cups cake flour if using cups fluff the flour in it’s container then sprinkle it over the measuring cup and level the cup
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 195 g or ¾ cups kefir or buttermilk
- 60 g or ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Lemon Soak
- 120 g or ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 100 g or ½ cup granulated sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour an 8 inch round cake pan that is 3 inches high.
Set the sugar in a large bowl and zest the lemons over it. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until it’s all worked in and the sugar is fragrant with the lemon oil.
Crack the eggs into the sugar and use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to beat until light and fluffy, the color will change to very pale. Add the vanilla and salt as it beats.
Once its pale, keep the mixer on and slowly pour in the olive oil. Beat until fully combined.
Over the batter, sift in the cake flour. Add the baking powder and soda. Turn the mixer on and beat - once half of the flour is combined into the batter, keep the mixer on and slowly pour in the buttermilk and then the lemon juice. Stop as soon as all the ingredients are combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Out of the oven, make the soak:
In a small pot, set the sugar and lemon juice over medium heat. Once the sugar has fully dissolved, take it off the heat.
With the cake still in the pan, use a cake tester or a skewer and poke holes all over the cake. Pour the soak all over, ensuring to get an even coat everywhere (much of it will run over to the sides so focus on getting enough in the center). Let the cake cool then serve.
Store leftovers in an airtight container. Cake will keep for 2-3 days and stays nicely moist.
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7 comments
Rate + Review
What do you think of this recipe?
This cake is phenomenal! I made it on a Thursday and the last piece wasn’t eaten until Tuesday and it was just as good as the first day. My neighbor has a lemon tree so I will make this often. One word of caution- if you are using an inexpensive aluminum springform pan (it was the only 8” pan I had with 3” high sides) the acidity from the lemons will darken the aluminum. It didn’t transfer any color to the cake, but now the pan just looks odd. Still usable, but I will be looking for a higher quality springform pan!
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I made this cake for Easter dinner and everyone loved it. Very moist and flavourful. Even my baba, who normally doesn’t eat much, finished a whole piece. I added the glaze from your lemon brownie recipe. It was perfect!Reply
Delicious cake!!! So flavorful, light, and moist! I didn’t have cake flour but read you can replace it with 2T corn starch per 1C AP flour and that worked very well. Added in a bit of orange zest and 1/2tsp almond extract bc I like to add my own flare into a recipe 🙂 Ratios were great for this cake because I tried another recipe for lemon olive oil cake and it ended up being way too heavy and dense, not this one!! Thanks so much for a great recipe, Sam!Reply
Found cake flour online for a reasonable price and decided to test it out with this recipe. Only made one alteration: I halved the recipe and used a 6-inch springform pan. Fantastic! Real lemon flavor, creamy but still crumby (in the good sense), moist, not too dense. I made and used the lemon syrup, but I didn’t drench it. Love this cake.Reply
This cake was everything!! Tart, soft, moist and delicious!Reply
Wow, this is SOOOOO good! Literally the best lemon cake (or any cake for that matter) that I have ever tasted! I made the cake itself as written, with the exception of swapping out half the olive oil for a vegetable or canola oil, as I didn’t have much olive oil left. I baked it in a square 8×8 pan, as I wanted more of a grab and go snack cake thang with square pieces. 30 minutes was exactly right, and once I took it out I started on the simple syrup. In the past I’ve always had trouble with lemon cakes tasting weak, but the simple syrup just elevated the flavor to the extreme! Once it was done, I poked holes in the cake and poured the syrup over. This is where I went off from the original recipe- I poked bigger holes, much like you would for a normal poke cake, before pouring the syrup on. Once it had soaked in and the cake was completely cooled, I whipped up 1 cup of heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar, a bit of lemon zest, and a small dash of lemon extract. I spread it over the cake, cut into squares, and served. It was instantly accompanied with oohs and aahs from everyone! It was so soft and fluffy- the perfect light spring dessert. The lemon flavor was so strong, and the beautiful cake accompanied with the silky lemon whipped cream was just amazing! I cannot recommend this cake enough. I would say that if I wanted something super fast, I would make the recipe as written; if I wanted something a bit more time intensive but with a great reward I would make the whipped cream for on top; if I wanted something absolutely fantastic I would poke the bigger holes, spread a bit of lemon curd over the top so it got down in, make the lemon whipped cream, and swirl the extra curd on top. Either way, and whatever you choose, this is just SUCH a fantastic cake and I literally cannot wait to make it (and eat it) again!Reply
OMG I made this for a friend’s birthday and they absolutely loved it! It was relatively easy to put together and soooooo lemony. I just took a bite and I can still feel the tangyness on my tongue. Also I halved the amount of lemon soak since I only had 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice. I also added a bit of almond extract to the lemon soak!side note – I almost never make recipes with no reviews, but looking at the ingredient list and knowing it was THE buttermilkbysam gave me confidence. thanks so much!!
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