Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake, Fast and Easy

This spicy, super fragrant Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake is the most delicious way to showcase the quintessential flavors of fall. Because you already have all the ingredients, requires only one bowl, and is endlessly forgiving and flexible, it will become a go-to recipe in your kitchen! Shall we?

This Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake is a variation of one of, like, three dessert recipes I actually bake All. The. Time.

Jump to:

• What is Olive Oil Cake?
• Olive Oil vs Butter in Baking
• Is Olive Oil Cake Healthy
• Ingredients You Need
• What Kind of Olive Oil for this Cake
• How to Make Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake
• Can You Use Different Pans or Sizes to Bake Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake?
• Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake Recipe

What is Olive Oil Cake?

An Olive Oil Cake is a cake made with, wait for it, olive oil as the primary fat component as opposed to butter or another vegetable oil.

The Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake version is made with pumpkin and flavored with all the usual pumpkin spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. It also gets a little spicy boost from a not-so-secret ingredient. To level up the cake, it has a little boost of spice from a not-so-secret ingredient.

Because olive oil is a liquid, an Olive Oil Cake comes together in one bowl without having to wait to soften butter, or wear out your forearms to beat butter and sugar. The cake bakes as a single layer in a cake pan or a loaf pan. This is why Olive Oil Cakes are my favorite to make. Dump. Stir. Bake.

Other ingredients like a dairy component (milk, buttermilk, yogurt) and eggs sometimes, but not always, make an appearance for texture and aid in leavening. The simple blending method is forgiving so it's easy to stir in additional flavors in the form of herbs, spices, and chocolate.

Here are some of my favorite versions of olive oil cakes:

• Lemon Olive Oil Cake is the lemon version of this cake, dairy-free and baked in an 8-inch round pan
• Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Candied Rosemary recipe, dairy-free, baked in 8-inch round cake pan
• Matcha Olive Oil Cake, dairy-free, baked in an 8-inch round springform pan
• Chocolate Olive Oil Cake, dairy-free, rich and chocolatey baked in an 8-inch round springform pan
• Orange Olive Oil Cake, the recipe on this post!

Olive Oil Cakes are usually only subtly sweet, so a generous swoop of cream cheese icing over the top is a perfect way to make it into something a little sweeter. A light dusting of confectioner's sugar is a perfect, simple adornment if you want something a little lighter and easier.

Does the Cake Taste Like Olive Oil?

Unless you use a cold-pressed, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil that's intensely aromatic, the olive oil flavor in the final cake will not stand out. Because many olive oils have an inherently citrusy aroma, the cake will taste more like orange than olive oil, or whatever other "flavor" ingredient you add to the cake like orange liqueur, herbs, nuts, or chocolate.

Olive Oil vs Butter in Baking

Aside from the fact that the two ingredients having very different flavor profiles, olive oil and butter render final products with different textures. Olive oil cakes are denser and moister, and stay moist for much longer than cakes made with butter.

Generally speaking, olive oil is considered a healthier fat choice over butter because of its omega-3 content, making an olive oil cake a more appropriate choice for people with certain health and dietary needs. However, cakes and other baked goods, even with olive oil, may have other ingredients like sugar, wheat flour, eggs, and dairy, that affect the nutrient density of the final dish. Which brings us to...

Is Olive Oil Cake Healthy

As a quick note, almost all of the Olive Oil Cake recipes I've shared so far are dairy-free, and it's partially by design because I don't usually keep milk, buttermilk or even yogurt on hand.

Everything else you need for this cake, you probably already have in your refrigerator and pantry. Only eight ingredients!

Ingredients You Need

Because this Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake is something I spontaneously decide to make on some random Fall afternoon (usually as a way to procrastinate, surprise, surprise), I want to be able to bake it right away without having to go to the grocery store to buy additional ingredients. I almost always have flour in the freezer as well as sugar because it doesn't go bad. Of course, I always have oranges (for feng shui!), olive oil, and eggs. Here is a list of the ingredients you need:

• Olive oil, obviously!
• Pumpkin puree
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• Flour
• Brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Pumpkin spices cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
• Salt
• Pantry leaveners like baking powder and soda

What Kind of Olive Oil for this Cake

Use the best-tasting (to you) extra virgin olive oil you can afford. Though the flavor of the oil will be subtle in the final cake, it's best to go with extra virgin for quality, and an olive oil on the deeper, fruitier side rather than on the intense, peppery side. 

Avoid using "light" olive oil for this cake, which refers to the oil's flavor and color, not the calories. Light olive oil has been processed which makes it more suitable for cooking at high heat, but also results in fewer nutrients.

I like this California-grown olive oil, but it's also VERY expensive, so I am saving that for times when I am eating straight olive oil like as a dip for bread, and using this mild, organic olive oil for the cake.

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources

1. Pumpkin Puree. Use 100% pure pumpkin, whether from a can/box or homemade, not pumpkin "pie filling," which has spices and sugar already added to it.
2. Flour. You can use any form of wheat flour for Orange Olive Oil Cake. I used this brand of organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour. I have made this cake with half whole wheat flour and as expected, it works perfectly well.
3. All other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.

How to Make Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake

Tools and Equipment for Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake

There isn't any special tool or piece of equipment required for Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake, and in fact, I highly encourage you to skip hauling out heavy stand mixers, or even a hand mixer for this. However, that doesn't mean there are a couple of things that might make this cake easier than it already is to get from pantry to plate.

• 9-inch round springform pan. The recipe here specifies a 9-inch springform pan and it's the one I used because that's the type of pan I have that's the right volume. You can absolutely use a regular round cake pan with minimum 2-inch high sides that's well-greased and lined with parchment paper to make removal easy. You can also use other shaped pans, see below in the FAQ.
• Parchment paper to release the bottom of the cake without ripping off any of the orange slices.
• Produce brush to scrub the peels of the oranges, which are in the cake as both the upside down topping and zest in the batter
• Produce wash to help dissolve the natural waxes on the skins of the oranges
• Microplane grater to zest the oranges
• Glass mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Sifter

Pro Tips, Tricks, and Technique FAQs

• Can You Use a Different Size Cake Pan to Bake the Cake? Yes!
• Can You Bake the Cake in a Loaf Pan? Yes! The cake will no longer be served "upside down," so skip the fresh orange slices in the bottom of the pan. In an 8-inch loaf pan, bake the cake for a little longer. The cake will have a slightly deeper golden "crust" because it's in the oven for longer, but it's still cake.

Can You Use Different Pans or Sizes to Bake Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake?

Yes! Because this Olive Oil Cake is so forgiving, you can use slightly different sized and shaped pans. Part of what makes this recipe so easy is that baking in different pans doesn't require much, if any modification:

• 8-inch Round pan—A slightly smaller 8-inch round cake pan will yield a taller cake, and needs to bake for a longer time. Check the cake at 40 minutes.
• 8x8-inch Square Pan— An 8x8-inch square pan has similar capacity to a 9-inch round pan. Bake an 8x8-inch square for about the same period of time, and start checking the Olive Oil Cake for done-ness at 30 minutes.
• 9x9-inch Square Pan—In a 9x9-inch square pan the batter will spread out quite a bit, making a thinner/flatter final product. Bake a 9x9-inch square for a shorter period of time, i.e. start checking the Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake for done-ness at 25 minutes.
• Muffin Pan— This Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake recipe fits perfectly in a regular 12-count muffin tin and makes perfect muffins! Grease and flour the muffin tin or line with paper liners. Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes.
• Loaf Pan—You can bake this cake in a loaf pan. In a 9x5-inch pan, the bake time will be about the same 35-40 minutes. Start checking the cake for doneness at 35 minutes. An 8½x4½-inch loaf pan will yield a taller bread, and needs to bake for a longer time. Check the bread at 40 minutes.

Ingredients Substitutions and FAQs

The recipe for this cake is called "fool-proof" because it is very forgiving in terms of ingredients and measurement precision. Here are the pro-tips:

• Different Type of Flour? You can use any form of wheat flour for Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake. This brand of organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour is the one I use. I have made this cake with half whole wheat flour and as expected, it works perfectly well. For gluten-free flours... glad you asked! See next...
• Can You Make it Gluten-free? Yes! Two baking-ready gluten-free flours my gluten-free experts friends have recommended are Measure-for-Measure by King Arthur and Pamela's, both of which you can substitute into recipes 1:1.
• Can You Make it Vegan? If you replace the eggs with an appropriate plant-based egg substitute, the cake will be vegan. That being said...
• Can you Replace the Eggs? I have not yet personally made this Pumpkin Olive Oil Cake with an egg substitute, either store-bought or something like ground flaxseeds. If you do, please let me know how it turns out!
• Brown vs Granulated Sugar—Use all brown sugar or all granulated (white) sugar in this recipe for similar results.
• Reduced Sugar—You can absolutely reduce the total amount of sugar in the recipe to ¾ cup! Any less than that, however, and you will compromise the structural integrity of the cake, as sugar is not just for sweetness, but moisture and texture.
• Can You Substitute Out the Olive Oil? The point of this cake is olive oil. However, because the dominant flavor in the cake is pumpkin and spices, you can absolutely substitute another oil or melted butter in this recipe without any major difference.

Best Pumpkin Recipes

Best Cakes with Olive Oil

If you, like me, hoard olive oil by the half gallon jugs but can't remember the last time you bought butter—it was probably back during Thanksgiving tbh—olive oil cakes will be your go-to cake. Get this recipe down as a foundation, then try making these variations on Olive Oil Cake.

Why, yes, I do love Olive Oil Cakes, how can you tell?

• Lemon Olive Oil Cake, dairy-free pictured above
• Upside Down Orange Olive Oil Cake is a visually stunning option for Thanksgiving and Holiday gatherings when citrus is in season.
• Chocolate Olive Oil Cake, dairy-free, baked in 8-inch round pan
• Matcha Green Tea Olive Oil Cake
• Walnut Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Figs, dairy-free, made with half of the regular wheat flour replaced with "walnut flour," served with fresh figs.