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Can You Use Olive Oil to Bake Cake?
- Last Updated: April 13, 2025
Can You Use Olive Oil to Bake Cake?
Since debuting my Flower City Flavor Company Flavored Olive Oils and Flavored Balsamic Vinegars, I’ve asked myself this simple question.
I’m the ultimate sweet tooth person, so I’ve been emphasizing inquiring about new ways to utilize my products outside the norm.
I took the time to test out my question and put it into a finished product, a blood orange olive oil cake!
Before getting into the recipe, we’ll examine three things you should know: olive oil vs. butter, substitution levels, and olive oils vs. other oils.
Butter vs. Olive Oil
When it comes to baking, the decision to use butter or olive oil primarily depends on texture and flavor.
One of the great benefits of using olive oil in cakes is that the texture will be fluffier and the cake will stay moist for longer than if you were to use butter.
Cakes made with olive oil instead of butter also tend to be lighter in texture and less dense due to their higher fat content and lighter weight.
Baking a cake with butter typically results in a more dense and structured texture because butter contains milk solids and water (unlike olive oil, which is 100% fat).
A denser cake may be preferred if you’re baking a multi-tiered cake, such as a wedding cake.
If you plan on storing your cake in the refrigerator, olive oil is also preferred, as refrigerating a cake made with butter will cause it to become firmer (whereas a cake made with olive oil will maintain its light texture).
Many cake and pastry recipes call for butter instead of olive oil to create a buttery flavor.
Examples of desserts where butter is typically preferred include croissants, butter cake, or pound cake.
In other recipes, however, olive oil creates a light, nutty, and slightly fruity flavor you won’t get from just using butter.
Olive oil often complements other ingredients in cake recipes, such as fruit, nuts, or spices.
Additionally, using good-quality flavored olive oils, such as the blood orange olive oil used in this cake recipe, imparts a unique flavor to desserts.
In addition to creating a unique texture and flavor, baking with olive oil adds vitamins and antioxidants not found in butter.
Olive oil is also considered a “good” fat and has more benefits for your health and heart than butter.
Substitution Levels
If you want to bake a cake with olive oil but are using a recipe that calls for butter, you cannot simply substitute the same amount; rather, a slight conversion rate is required.
Below is a baking conversion rate guide for how much olive oil to substitute for butter, depending on the amount (approximately .75:1 ratio olive oil to butter).
The main reason it’s not a 1:1 substitution is that olive oil is 100% fat, whereas butter tends to be about 80% fat (and 20% water and milk solids).
-1 teaspoon of butter = ¾ teaspoon olive oil
-1 tablespoon of butter = 2¼ teaspoons olive oil
-2 tablespoons of butter = 1½ tablespoons olive oil
-¼ cup butter = 3 tablespoons olive oil
-⅓ cup butter = ¼ cup olive oil
-½ cup butter = ¼ cup plus two tablespoons olive oil
-⅔ cup butter = ½ cup olive oil
-¾ cup butter = ½ cup plus one tablespoon olive oil
-1 cup butter = ¾ cup olive oil
Other Oils vs. Olive Oil
When choosing which oil to bake with, the two biggest factors to consider are flavor and quality.
Olive oil has a stronger and more fruity flavor than other vegetable oils like canola or peanut oil.
If you are looking for that fruity flavor, olive oil is the way to go. If you are baking with fruits, nuts, and spices, olive oil is also a great choice because its fruity flavor complements such ingredients nicely.
When it comes to olive oil, not all oils are equal.
Extra virgin olive oil is the highest quality and most flavorful. It’s also perfect for your overall health!
Extra virgin olive oil is made by grinding and pressing olives and extracting the oil without any chemicals or heat, resulting in the purest olive oil flavor possible.
When choosing which olive oil to bake with, a good rule of thumb is that if you don’t like the flavor on its own (or when dipped in bread or drizzled on salads), then you should not bake with it, as its flavor will come through in the final product.
Putting Our Theory to the Test
A Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
Spoiler alert…it’s excellent! Look at this recipe and see if you can use olive oil to bake a cake. Here are some pictures:
So, Can You Use Olive Oil to Bake Cake?
When it comes to cooking, I’ve always loved experimenting with new dishes.
Part of my joy in the kitchen is cooking with new ingredients and playing with different flavor and texture combinations.
However, I was always taught to follow recipes when it comes to baking. After all, baking is a science.
So when I decided to experiment with baking with olive oil, I was a little nervous and didn’t know what to expect.
All I have to say is WOW, am I glad I strayed from tradition!
The texture of this Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake was so different from butter-based cakes I’ve made in the past – in the best way possible.
The crumb throughout was consistently even, the texture was light and airy yet moist and decadent.
The flavor was unique. I thought olive oil would make this cake more savory, but that wasn’t the case.
Instead, the fruitiness and slight nuttiness of the Blood Orange and Arbequina Olive Oils shone through and gave this cake a sophisticated touch and a certain brightness that was pleasantly unexpected.
I will make this cake again and continue experimenting with baking with olive oil in the kitchen.
Perhaps a combination of Blood Orange Olive Oil and dark chocolate, or Arbequina Olive Oil and yellow peaches.
Or maybe even a savory Tuscan Herb Olive Oil bread loaf with olives and ricotta cheese. The possibilities are endless!
They’d be wrong if anyone doubted whether you can use olive oil to bake a cake!
Ready to get baking? Check out all of our flavored olive oil selections!
