When I posted on Facebook that I was baking a lemon rosemary olive oil cake someone commented and said “yuk”. Ha ha! Sounds a little odd I suppose, but I’ve learned that herbs are very versatile. While the thought of using pungent rosemary in a delicate cake might seem a bit unusual to you, olive oil probably sounds even stranger. Think about it though. Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can use, but you don’t want to use one that is cold pressed or with a stronger flavor. Use a lighter olive oil when using it in baking and substitute equally for other oils.
When I found this recipe on My Recipes I was curious as to why the rating was only 3 out of 5. Turns out after reading many of the comments that a lot of people were producing dry cakes. The instructions say to use 13.5 ounces of flour, then in parenthesis it says “about 3 cups”. Here’s where Baking 101 really comes in to play. If you aerate your flour by either stirring it first or “fluffing” it up then weigh out 13.5 ounces, after scooping that into your measuring cups and leveling them off, you will end up with a bit less than 3 cups. That’s just for discussion purposes though. I recommend for this recipe that you simply weigh the flour. That’s what I did and it was perfect. If you don’t have a scale, start with 2 1/2 cups, but don’t go more than 2 3/4 cups.
I took some of this lovely cake over to a friend of mine and she loved it. I did too. It had a delicious lemon flavor with only a subtle hint of rosemary. If you didn’t tell someone the rosemary was in there, they probably wouldn’t be able to detect it. Definitely delicious and worth giving a try!
Lemon-Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
More Lemon Recipes
- Lemon Bars
- Lemon Lush
- Lemon Icebox Cake
- Lemon Streusel Squares
- Lemon Meringue Pie Bars
- Instant Pot Lemon Curd Cheesecake
- Lemon Cake
- Instant Pot Lemon Cake
- Lemon Baked Donuts
Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- Baker's Joy cooking spray
- 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour roughly 2.5 - 2.75 cups
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup low fat milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon rind grated
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Rosemary sprig for garnish optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Coat a 10-inch tube pan with Baker's Joy cooking spray; or regular cooking spray then dust with 2 tablespoons flour. Weigh or lightly spoon 13.5 ounces flour (about 2.5 - 2.75 cups) into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl.
- Place granulated sugar and next 7 ingredients (through eggs) in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at low speed 2 minutes or until smooth. Add to flour mixture; beat until blended.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, and remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Combine powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, stirring until smooth. Drizzle sugar mixture over cake. Garnish with rosemary sprig, if desired.
Nutrition
More from em you might like:
Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Blueberry Sauce
Lemon & Blackberry Cream Cheese Swirl Cake
Almond Butter Cake
Double Glazed Almond Orange Bundt Cake
More from other great blogs:
Key Lime Cream Cheese Pie from Barbara Bakes
Lemon Meringue and Fresh Raspberry Cheesecake from She’s Becoming DoughMessTic
Cornmeal, Rosemary & Lemon Cake with Rhubarb & Strawberry Sauce from Cookin’ Canuck
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Amanda Davis
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girlichef says
Oh my gosh, I think it sounds amazing…and gorgeous, as usual! I'm all for weighing my ingredients when baking, since it's more of a science when it comes to creating the correct texture, etc. Seriously amazing, thank you for linking it to BSI: Lemons this week =)
Amanda says
So glad you liked it! :)
Anonymous says
Light, lovely cake. Easy to make without an electric mixer. Next time I make it I'll add less sugar, because it was a little too sweet for my taste. Must allow the lemon a chance to express itself fully!
Amanda says
That is so awesome!! I know that i loved it too, sooo glad you enjoyed it!
Sweet And Crumby says
This is my NEW FAVORITE CAKE! It is the perfect combination of lucious lemon and herby rosemary with the added flavor layer of olive oil. MMmmmmm. I am thinking of making a Meyer Lemon Drop Martini sauce for it that people could put on to of their own slice. I may blog it as well. I will link to you though! :) Great suggestions for the flour. I was careful not to over pack my flour and I used 2.5 c. since I coudln't find my scale. It came out perfectly soft and moist more like a soft coffe cake which is exactly what I was going for. Feel free to shorten my comment on your site. Hope you get a chance to stop by my blog as well. I will be coming back most definitely.
Amanda says
Hi Sweet and Crumbly! :) I believe the icing was thick enough that when I added it it was fairly spreadable. I adding it to the middle of the cake area and spread it outward and inward just enough to get it near the edge. I believe I stayed about 1/4" from both edges and that allowed for a little bit of spreading room. You can see it did drizzle down the center a bit, so it's not a perfect solution, but it worked. Would love to hear how you like it!
Sweet And Crumby says
I am so grateful I found this site today. Your cake looks like perfect. I am supposed to be bringing a lemon cake to a book club. I wanted to add in some rosemary and just LOVE the idea of the olive oil as well. My question is…how do you have such a neat line of icing that does not drip down the outside of your cake? Did you pipe a line first and then flood the icing inward? Thanks!!! Thank you also for the tip on weighing and aerating the flour. Always good to be reminded that I can't cheat all the time when I bake. I have a baking blog…check it out and please let me know about the icing via your comments or email. TY.
Jennifer Cote says
Wow, Amanda- sounds perfect. Another olive oil cake posted on Chow recently didn't have the plus of the fresh rosemary in it. It did say go ahead and use virgin oil though; I suppose it depends on how much you like the flavor!
Now I'm wondering if we might try one with lavender… If that would go well with the lemon too…
(I'm trying to find an excuse to use some lavender!)
Thanks for posting :)
Amanda says
Thanks everyone!
Erika says
This looks like exactly my kind of cake. I can't wait to make this – thanks for the recipe and inspiration!
Janine at Rustic Kitchen says
This sounds lovely. I have a version with fennel seed and rosemary and people rave!
Tasty Eats At Home says
This looks so pretty!
marla {family fresh cooking} says
I love Olive Oil cake & find nothing yucky or strange about it at all. The addition of rosemary is very nice as well!
Mags says
What a gorgeous cake. And I agree with you that "weighing" ingredients is extremely important, especially when baking. Love the touch of rosemary.
Deeba PAB says
I love it, I do! Them who said yuk know not! I think it's gorgeous Amanda, and very pretty too!
Sue says
I think it sounds wonderful myself! It sure looks moist and delicious!
Amanda says
So funny maria, when I first read this comment I thought you said I haTe to try this cake. LOL!
Maria says
I HAVE to try this cake! It looks soooo good!
Amanda says
Thanks Alamia and Marybeth!
Megan – I hard about your oven, that stinks! :(
Megan says
I think this sounds really good! I have been wanting to make an olive oil cake and I know I would love the rosemary in it. I bet lavender would be good to. Wonderful recipe Amanda. One I would like to someday try.
BTW- I still haven't gotten to those darn watermelon cookies. Had every intention. In fact, I bought Watermelon flavoring. Then the oven broke. :(