Orange and cranberry olive oil cake
An elegant cake that is so easy to make and is perfect for breakfast, dessert or snacking. The combination of tart cranberries, the bright citrus flavour of orange juice and zest and the rich, fragrant taste of the olive oil make this a delicious cake. The crumb of the cake is perfect!
I love to bake with olive oil. In part this is because growing up, my Greek parents very rarely used butter in their cooking or baked goods. This was not because butter is not delicious, but because of my mom’s dietary restrictions and the underlying Greek philosophy that although butter may make things better, olive oil makes them best. The other reason that I love baking with olive oil is that I sometimes find myself out of butter, but I can’t remember a day when I looked around my kitchen and discovered I was all out of olive oil. Lucky, for sure, and my parents taught me well.
This is not the first olive oil cake that I have posted, and it surely won’t be the last. I’ve already shared a lemon olive oil cake with you that is light and scrumptious (and which was baked for a very special event).
Why I love this recipe
There are so many reasons I love this cake! First, I do find that citrus and olive oil complement each other beautifully, whether in a savoury dish like Baked feta with orange and olives or a sweet dessert like this one.
Here I have combined the zest and juice of oranges with the sharp tang of cranberries. Married together, these flavours bring out the fruity notes of the olive oil and enhance its rich yet subtle profile. (Also, I don’t really talk that way, but I have been watching a ton of shows on The Food Network, so I thought I would give it a try!).
All kidding aside, another reason this cake is great is that when oranges are in season, you tend to also find cranberries easily. Convenience, feasibility and taste area winning combinations!
Key ingredients
Orange zest When I peel or grate orange zest I try to be really careful not to include any of the white pith, which can be bitter. I find that the easiest way to do this is by using a microplane grater.
Sugar Plain, white granulated sugar – you know, the basic stuff, is what I use to sweeten this cake.
Flour This is plain too! Just regular white flour, sometimes called plain or regular flour. In Canada we call in all purpose flour.
Baking powder & baking soda I use these commonplace ingredients as the leavening agents in my cake.
Cranberries I usually use frozen cranberries to make this cake. I stock up during Thanksgiving and Christmas, when cranberries are abundant and just stick them in the freezer.
Eggs Large chicken eggs are used here to help bind the ingredients and make the cake fluffy!
Orange juice Since I need oranges for the orange zest used in this recipe, I take advantage and also squeeze them. Then, I have freshly squeezed orange juice for the cake. Perfect!
Olive oil The olive oil is key here! It gives the cake a particular flavour and makes it so moist!
Salt I always add salt to my recipes – savoury or sweet, salt helps to heighten all the flavours.
How to make it
It is really quite simple to make this amazing cranberry and orange olive oil cake. Even if you are not an avid baker, you will definitely be able to make this cake – it requires no special technique. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and let’s go!
Step 1
In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Step 2
In a small bowl, combine the orange zest with the sugar and use your fingers to rub the two together. This will help release the fragrant oils from the zest and will give the sugar a nice, light orange hue.
Step 3
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs together with the sugar and zest. Beat for a few minutes and then slowly pour in the orange juice and then the olive oil.
Step 4
With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture, leave behind about 1/4 cup of the flour. Add the cranberries to this 1/4 cup of flour and toss to coat. Once the flour in the mixing bowl has been well incorporated with the wet ingredients, add in the flour coated cranberries. Mix only until incorporated; do not over mix because doing so might crush your cranberries. Alternatively, you can add and mix in the cranberries by hand using a rubber spatula.
Step 5
Grease a bundt pan with cooking spray or vegetable oil. Pour in the batter and then use a knife to swirl the batter a bit, in order to help distribute the cranberries evenly.
Step 6
Bake on the middle rack of your oven for approximately 60 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for approximately 10-12 minutes before removing it. Set it to cool on a baking rack.
Recipe substitutions
A different type of oil
Although olive oil is key to the unique flavour of this cake, you can substitute it with another type of oil – something more mild flavoured. You can also use a combination of different oils; this will impact the flavour and also your wallet (olive oil tends to be pricey). So long as you use the same total amount of oil, the cake will bake up beautifully.
Use a good quality bottle orange juice
If for some reason you cannot use fresh orange juice be sure to find a bottle one that is of good quality. You don’t want to negatively impact your cake with watered down, or artificial orange juice.
Baking tips
Cakes made with olive oil are particularly delicious; the oil lends a beautiful colour, flavour and texture to these baked goods. Since the olive oil is such a prominent ingredient, it is important to use the best quality olive oil you can find. There are some controversies surrounding the purity of olive oil, it is a good idea to do your research and try to find local distributors that you know you can trust. You may end up paying a little bit more for your oil, but remember, pure olive oil is liquid gold, and you get what you pay for.
I use either fresh or frozen cranberries for this cake, depending on what I have on hand. Given the choice, I tend to use frozen cranberries because I like to stock up when they are readily available in the grocery store and freeze them for future use.
Prior to zesting the oranges for the recipe, I wash them thoroughly, and use organic oranges if possible. I like to use a citrus zester or microplane grater to remove the zest from my oranges. Both are easy to use and ensure that you don’t get any of the white pith, which can be somewhat bitter, removed along with the zest. The problem with the zester is that you can end up with long strips of zest. If this happens, I use a knife to chop them up more finely. Alternatively you can use a box grater, if yours has a side with very small holes.
Recipe variations
You can make a lemon cranberry olive oil cake by swapping out the orange juice with freshly squeezed lemon juice, and using lemon zest instead of orange zest.
You can also use a different fruit instead of cranberries. Frozen cherries (or fresh cherries) or raspberries would be lovely.
Video – Watch how to make it
Related recipes
If you love this cake, I think you will also enjoy these dessert! Give them a try and let me know what you think!
Lemon and blueberry olive oil cake A delicious fresh tasting cake made with lemon and blueberries.
Chocolate and orange marble cake What a delight it is cutting into this cake and seeing the beauty within it! And it tastes great too!
Greek yogourt cake with orange One of the most popular recipes on the website! Everyone loves this cake, and with good reason!
How to serve
I often serve this cake for a sweet breakfast with a nice cup of Greek coffee or Greek mountain tea. It is also a delicious ending to a meal. If you are serving it as dessert, consider adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of thick Greek yogourt. Not necessary, but a nice touch. This cake is also perfect for packing up in a child (or adult’s) lunchbox, and would be a welcome sweet treat in the late afternoon.
Serving size
I usually bake this cake in a bundt pan and easily get 12 servings out of it.
I love hearing from you! If you have made any Mia Kouppa recipes, or if you have a question or comment, or simply want to say Hi!, please leave a comment and star rating below! Also be sure to follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. It’s lots of fun over there.
Orange and cranberry olive oil cake
Equipment
- Bundt cake pan
- mixer
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp grated orange zest tightly packed
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounce bag cranberries (frozen is fine, see notes below)
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a small bowl, combine the orange zest with the sugar and use your fingers to rub the two together. This will help release the fragrant oils from the zest and will give the sugar a nice, light orange hue.2 tbsp grated orange zest, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs together with the sugar and zest. Beat for a few minutes and then slowly pour in the orange juice and then the olive oil.3 large eggs, 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup olive oil
- With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture, leave behind about 1/4 cup of the flour. Add the cranberries to this 1/4 cup of flour and toss to coat. Once the flour in the mixing bowl has been well incorporated with the wet ingredients, add in the flour coated cranberries. Mix only until incorporated; do not over mix because doing so might crush your cranberries. Alternatively, you can add and mix in the cranberries by hand using a rubber spatula.12 ounce bag cranberries
- Grease a bundt pan with cooking spray or vegetable oil. Pour in the batter and then use a knife to swirl the batter a bit, in order to help distribute the cranberries evenly.
- Bake on the middle rack of your oven for approximately 60 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for approximately 10-12 minutes before removing it. Set it to cool on a baking rack.
- Enjoy!
My mom never baked with butter as well. Olive Oil was always her preference. Orange and cranberries are a winning combination and your cake looks wonderfully moist and fluffy! I love it!
Thank you so much Marisa!!!
This is very wonderful Recipe. The cake was so delicious that not a single bit is left. Cranberry added extra flovour to it.
Thank you so much!! We’re really thrilled that you liked it!
Yum-this looks so good!
Thanks so much Nancy. It is actually a great recipe! We think you’ll love it, especially when you see how easy it is to whip together 🙂 Have a great day!
Could you please give me the flour measurements in grams? thank you!
Apologies! We don’t have that available right now, but the next time we make this cake we’ll try to remember to weigh out our quantities and edit the recipe 🙂
Can you make this recipe into cupcakes?
We don’t see why not!!! This would be delicious as cupcakes. Just be sure to reduce the cooking time; our guess is that it would take approximately 12 – 15 minutes for them to cook through, but of course that will depend on your cupcake pan, and how large your cupcakes are. Keep us posted!
My daughter in law is from Istanbul and I am going to surprise her with this cake. Just need to find a high quality olive oil. Hope she likes it.
Oh we hope so too!!! Please let us know what she, and you, think! xoxo Helen & Billie
Do you need to thaw cranberries if using frozen or use as is?
Hi Patricia. No need to thaw, just use the cranberries frozen. Hope you enjoy the cake. It’s one of our favourites 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie
There are so many recipes I wish I got from my Mom. She’s 84 & can’t remember many of them now to give me. She lives with us. Now, thanks to Mia Kouppa & Greek Boston I make so many of the recipes I grew up on and my Mom is thrilled!
Thank you!
You’ve made us so happy with your comment Sophia. We are so happy that you found us, and humbled to be part of your lives – and that your Mom is pleased!!! Whew!! xoxo Helen & Billie
Hi!
I wanted to know if it’s ok to use dried cranberries as fresh/frozen ones are not easy to come by where I live. Thank you!
Hi Mavis. We have never made this cake with dried cranberries, but assume it would work fine. You might want to try plumping them up in some warm water first. Let them soak for about an hour and then drain well. You can also use fresh or frozen blueberries, or even cherries, if those are easier to find. Happy baking! xoxo Helen & Billie
Ladies, this is a definite 10 STAR **********
Knowing how much I absolutely love this combination, I doubled the recipe. Made cupcakes and added chopped pistachios into the batter, and made the Bundt Cake as well. The house smells DELICIOUS!!!
I always use olive oil in all my cooking and baking even when recipe calls for butter..always lighter and tastier, guess we found the reason us Greeks are healthier and live longer!!!!! Now for self-control and wait for everything to cool, that’s the toughest part of this recipe!!!
Youppi!!! So happy to hear that you think so!! Love your addition of the pistachio nuts. Extra deliciousness! xoxo Helen & Billie
This cake is delicious and moist !!! It looks so pretty too, beautiful. This impressive cake would be a lovely addition to any buffet or dinner table. The perfect cake to take to friends when invited for dinner too. My hubby loved it.
I took exactly 1 hour to cook and needs no changes what so ever, it’s perfect as it.
I am so happy to have found your recipe and your happy stories on your site.
My thanks to Billie and Helen (and the parents :-)).
Darlene
Nova Scotia
Oh that you Darlene for taking the time to share such a lovely comment! We’re so happy that you tried, and loved, our orange and cranberry olive oil cake – it’s one of our favourites too! We hope you continue to find much to love on our site, and we’re so happy that you found us too! xoxo Helen & Billie
This looks wonderful! Would a citrus infused olive oil (lemon or orange) enhance the flavours? Or maybe this is a terrible idea?
Hi David!! Thanks so much 🙂 Although we’ve never made this cake with a citrus infused olive oil, it would probably work pretty well – so long as the infused flavour is not too overpowering (which is likely wouldn’t be). If we had to choose, we would stick with orange, given that this is the flavour throughout the rest of the cake. Having said that, infused oils tend to be a little pricier than your typical olive oil – and given that you need an entire cup of it for this cake, you may want to stick with regular, uninfused oil. Save some money and the infused stuff to make something delicious like an olive oil dip! 🙂 https://miakouppabbbwpc.wpcomstaging.com/olive-oil-dip/ Let us know what you decide to do, and how it works out! xoxo Helen & Billie
GREAT cake. I made it as the recipe indicates, perhaps adding a little more orange zest and hand-squeezed juice ((because I had a lot of good oranges) and maybe 1/4 less sugar. Added walnuts. Perfect cake, just what I wanted. Moist, flavorful, and big. Thank you!
Yay!! So happy to hear that you loved it! This is truly one of our favourite cakes, and it’s pretty to look at too with the bursts of cranberry. Thanks for letting us know! xoxo Helen & Billie
I just made this again (it’s in the oven…) and I was reminded that I meant to ask you to clarify the recipe a bit, because I think 2 3/4 c flour is 330g (at 120g/cup) but you indicate 410g. I guessed that you were using grams, as I do, so I followed that, but if someone is following the cup measurement, I think it’s in error –?
Thanks for pointing this out….it seems that cup measurements vary in their equivalence in grams, depending on who you ask. It’s been a very frustrating thing to deal with! Our 2 3/4 cups actually is 410 grams. How did your cake turn out?
I made the cranberry cake this evening, it’s out of this world loved it!
Easy to make and delicious!! Thank you Helen and Billie!!
Yay!!! This makes us so happy! Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie
What’s the size of ur pan?
Hi Farah,
We use a standard bundt pan for this recipe, which holds a volume of 10 cups (your batter will not fill the pan of course) You can use a different type of pan so long as the batter only comes up 2/3 of the way. Enjoy!
Hi there from The Netherlands, could this cake be made with less sugar? And if so: does that change the measurements of the other ingredients? Thank you very much for your help.
Hi Andrea! Welcome from the Netherlands! So happy you have found us. You can try reducing the sugar by about a 1/3 to start – leave all the other ingredients as they are. The cake should probably work out fine and if you are satisfied with the result, you can even consider cutting it down further. This will be trial and error however as we have not made these modifications to the recipe. Happy baking! xoxo Helen & Billie
hello helen! marina here. just to let you know that I made this recipe with success. my only adjustment was to use both lemon and orange juice and peel. I was drawn to it because it looked sooo good.
Thank you for letting us know Marina! So happy that you enjoyed this cake, and your adjustment sounds great! Enjoy the cake 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie
I make this recipe at least on a weekly basis.
I make up to 18 muffins , moist & delicious !!
That is amazing to hear Anna!! So happy that you love this cake – it is one of our favourites as well. Nice idea to turn it into muffins 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie
Delicious, my house smelled great for days after it was baked. I might try the next one with blueberries and lemon. I also toasted and buttered slices for a decadent breakfast. With my oven and Bundt pan 50 minutes was enough baking time.
So happy that you tried this cake and loved it Michelle!!! Thanks for letting us know – it is definitely one of our favourites and most popular 🙂 We hope you continue to find much to love here with us! xoxo Helen & Billie