This blood orange cake is a soft, moist olive oil cake topped with delicious mascarpone whipped cream. It’s a simple recipe that comes together quickly and without a mixer!
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Enjoy a slice of this fruity blood orange olive oil cake for an afternoon snack or dessert! Olive oil, lemon zest, and blood orange zest and juice makes it super moist and flavorful!
Feel free to swap in navel oranges or lemons if blood oranges are not in season. If you’re a big citrus fan, you’ll also love this recipe for grapefruit cake.
For another recipe for olive oil cake, try my olive oil pumpkin cake, orange olive oil cake, and olive oil lemon cake.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Blood oranges add a sweet, fresh taste to this olive oil blood orange cake. If you love fruity desserts, be sure to try my pomegranate cake recipe and raspberry ricotta cake.
- Olive oil adds a fragrant fruity flavor. It’s delicious with the blood orange and lemon. It also makes the cake super moist!
- This cake is super easy to make. The batter comes together in minutes without a mixer.
Ingredients
Here are some useful notes on the ingredients for this recipe for blood orange cake.
- Olive oil- Use good quality extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil makes the cake super moist and adds a fruity flavor. It brings out the flavors of the orange and lemon.
- Eggs: Use 2 large, room temperature eggs.
- Blood orange zest and blood orange juice: You’ll need the zest of 2-3 medium blood oranges and 1 tablespoon of blood orange juice. Orange zest adds more of the citrusy taste to this cake because the peels have more oil in them than juice. Top the cake with blood orange slices for decoration, if you like! Definitely try my yummy blood orange cookies too!
- Lemon zest: Use the zest of 1 lemon. This is a blood orange cake, but the lemon adds extra fresh flavor. It also enhances the flavor of the blood oranges. For more citrusy desserts, be sure to try my lemon lime bars and lemon raspberry cheesecake bars.
- Cardamom: Cardamom adds a warm flavor to this yummy blood orange cardamom cake. If you love cardamom, be sure to try my mango panna cotta recipe and strawberry blondies.
- Heavy cream: Use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream for the topping.
- Mascarpone cheese: Mascarpone makes this whipped cream extra creamy and delicious. If you have leftover mascarpone cheese, try my incredible mascarpone ice cream!
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar thickens and sweetens the whipped cream.
Please see recipe card for a full list of ingredients and their measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Swap out half or all of the olive oil for canola or vegetable oil.
- If you can’t find blood oranges, use regular navel oranges instead. Cara cara oranges can also be used in place of the blood orange.
- Use a 1:1 gluten free flour if you’re gluten-free. I like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
- I haven’t tried making this cake without eggs. For a vegan olive oil cake, give this delicious vegan olive oil cake with lemon from My Darling Vegan a try!
Instructions
Step 1: (Photo 1 above) In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar with the orange and lemon zest or use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar.
Step 2: (Photo 2 above) Add the eggs and whisk til light and fluffy. Whisk in the sour cream, orange juice and olive oil.
Step 3: (Photo 3 above)Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Step 4: (Photo 4 above) Pour mixture into an 8 or 9 inch round pan. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool.
Step 5: (Photo 5 above) Whip the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla with a mixer until you have soft peaks. Add the mascarpone cheese and whip til stiff peaks form.
Step 6: (Photo 6 above) Spread the mascarpone whipped cream on top of cake.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Olive oil replaces the fat from more commonly used baking ingredients like butter and vegetable oil. It makes baked goods moist and delicious! It goes especially well with citrus!
You should get around 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of zest from one orange.
Store the unfrosted cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Once frosted, store leftovers in the refrigerator. Freeze unfrosted cake in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Defrost it in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Expert Tips
- Spoon flour into your measuring cup. If you dredge the measuring cup in the flour, the flour will become compact. This can lead to a dry cake. For the most accurate way to measure flour, use a kitchen scale.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature ingredients come together more easily.
- Zest the orange before juicing it. It’s much easier to zest when it’s still whole. I recommend a microplane for zesting. Grate off only the outer orange part of the orange. Avoid grating the white part of peel.
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Blood Orange Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (133.33 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (1) blood orange zest from about 3 blood oranges
- 1 medium lemon zested (we are not using lemon juice)
- 2 (2) large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup (115 g) sour cream or Greek yogurt, full fat, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (17 g) blood orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- ½ cup (118.29 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ¼ cups (156.25 g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon (½ teaspoon) salt
Mascarpone Whipped Cream
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream cold
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3½ ounces Mascarpone cheese drained, cold
Instructions
- Spray an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan with baking spray. Line with a round of parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment paper with baking spray. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk to combine the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the blood orange zest, lemon zest and sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips or combine with a whisk or electric mixer til just combined. This will bring out the flavor of the citrus.
- Add the eggs to the sugar mixture. Whisk til light and fluffy.
- Whisk in the sour cream, vanilla extract (if using), and orange juice. Whisk in the olive oil. Whisk til combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Spread evenly with a spatula or offset spatula. Bake 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Place the cake pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool 15 minutes then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, run a knife along the edge of the pan to make sure it is not sticking. Remove cake from pan. Allow cake to cool completely.
- Place the pan on a rack and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove cake from the pan and allow to cool completely on the rack.
Mascparpone Whipped Cream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract on high speed until you have soft peaks. Add the mascarpone cheese and whip til stiff peaks form.
- Spread it on top of the cooled cake or serve it alongside individual slices. Top with orange slices or extra orange zest.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Natalie Thompson
Made this for my birthday this year and ate more in one sitting than I care to admit. The cake is not too sweet, and the whipped cream is light and fluffy but adds so much to the cake. Topped with some fresh berries for extra pizzaz and was one happy birthday girl
Natalie
Hey Natalie!! Happy belated birthday! I’m so honored you made this cake for such a special occasion and thrilled that you enjoyed it, birthday girl! Thanks for your comment and have a fantastic day!
Rose
I seem to have a lot more batter than will fit into an 8” pan. Almost enough for 2 pans.
Natalie
Hi Rose, thank you for letting me know. I always have enough for an 8 inch pan, but I’m sorry to hear you have a lot more batter. I’ll double check the recipe, but haven’t haven’t heard of this happening before from others who have made it. Perhaps you want to try splitting the batter into two pans? Sorry for any inconvenience. I hope it turns out well.
Barbara Briggs Ward
Stunning! I’d love a piece right now!
Natalie
Thank you! It’s pretty and delicious for sure!
Barbara Briggs Ward
Besides the stunning photos, this cake looks beyond Delicious!
Natalie
Thank you so much! It is even more delicious than it looks!
Faith
im a bit confused. the recipe calls for one blood orange but the article says 3. i only got one will this be ok?
Natalie
Hi Faith, I’m so sorry for the confusion. The recipe is correct. You only need one blood orange. I had updated the recipe but hadn’t yet updated the article. I will go ahead and update that. Please let me know if you have any questions.