This Gluten-Free Vegan Olive Oil Cake is rich, fragrant and elegantly simple! Using olive oil creates a subtly fruity flavour and moist texture. It's easy to make, comes together in one bowl and is refined sugar free too. A versatile dessert that you could also enjoy for breakfast or brunch!
For baking, I recommend using a middle-of-the-range olive oil.
You should use an extra-virgin olive oil that is good quality and that has a good flavour.
If you use a cheap olive oil, it may be overly processed and not have enough flavour to make the cake taste fragrant.
However, as this recipe requires using 8 tablespoons of olive oil, using the best quality super fancy olive oil can get quite expensive.
So I recommend going for something that's still good quality, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the top of the range.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based yogurt!
- Transfer the batter into a 18cm / 7 inch springform baking tin lined with greased baking paper.
Tip: To prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt, make sure that the baking paper is covering the bottom and the sides of the tin.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool before slicing.
Tips for making this recipe
- Make sure to use the right amount of baking powder - 2 heaped teaspoons! Use too little baking powder and your sponge won't be fluffy, too much and it'll have a bitter taste.
- Make sure to use an all-purpose shop-bought gluten-free flour blend (or a homemade gluten-free flour blend), as opposed to just using any type of gluten-free flour you can find (such as almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour etc).
- To prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt, make sure that the baking paper is covering the bottom and the sides of the tin.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can use any type of plant-based yogurt: almond, soy, cashew or coconut yogurt all work well.
- If you can't find plant-based yogurt, you can replace it with any type of plant-based milk, or use an equivalent amount of blended-up silken tofu.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
Flavour substitutions you can make
You can add some lemon zest or orange zest or orange blossom water.
How long does this cake keep for?
This cake tastes best eaten on the day it's made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More gluten-free vegan cake recipes
- Tropical Carrot Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Matcha Strawberry Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Orange Cake
- Strawberry Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Yogurt Cake
- Lemon Yogurt Cake
- Ginger Cake
- Raspberry Cake
- Blood Orange Cake
- Cherry Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
- 60 g (¼ cup) olive oil
- 230 ml (1 cup) unsweetened plain plant-based yogurt * (I used coconut yogurt but you can use any plant-based yogurt)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice **
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cups) ground almonds (almond meal) ***
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the olive oil, yogurt, lemon juice, maple syrup and ground almonds in a large mixing bowl.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash of plant-based milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture into a greased baking tin lined with baking paper (I used a 7inch/18cm springform baking tin) - make sure that the baking paper is covering the bottom and the sides of the tin, to prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt.
- Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until risen and golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool before slicing.
- Best eaten on the day it's made, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a couple of days.
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Ashle
Can I use only almond flour or do I need the gluten free blend with the almond flour (meal)
Rhian Williams
You need the gluten-free flour blend too, you can't use just almond flour!
Alisha
I can’t wait to try this recipe out for my sisters birthday! Does it matter what kind of olive oil? Does it need to be extra virgin or does regular olive oil work just fine?
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! It doesn't matter what type of olive oil you use, as the quality doesn't matter so much if you're baking it into a cake compared to using it in a salad dressing for example. So you can just use regular olive oil. Thank you!