Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
An easy one bowl, mix by hand, dairy free blood orange olive oil cake – moist and delicious, it’s a dessert worthy of a dinner party… or any old Monday, because it’s just so easy.
This week has been a week. I’ve had at least a year’s worth of stress and drama crammed into a ridiculous 36 hours, and good grief am I exhausted. My brain feels like a pile of mush right now.
I thought one day was dramatic – a day involving the escapades of a stray cat who seems to have adopted us. It’s a crazy story that involves an unintentional escape on the way to the vet, a fearful run, a catch and miss, giving up, and someone ringing my doorbell at night holding the very same cat who I thought I’d never see again.
In the end: I now have a foster kitten living in my bathroom.
But then the next day brought news that I am now a victim of identity fraud. Not run-of-the-mill someone used my credit card number to make an unauthorized purchase identity fraud. I’m basically a pro at that (online shopping, what?) and will be an AmEx customer FOR LIFE because of how easy it is to deal with fraudulent charges.
No, I’m talking about legitimate identity fraud: someone using my name, social security number, phone number, and former address to open lines of credit. In my name. For which I would be responsible. Someone likely running around with a fake form of identification with my name and address on it.
So I got to spend all afternoon at work calling banks and credit cards and credit bureaus and the Federal Trade Commission and everyone else and well, in the words of Frank Costanza, “SERENITY NOW!!!” And then the next day, I discovered that multiple other cards were opened in my name, as well.
I still have to go file a police report in person. And then make a long-term plan for what to do about someone with access to my name and social security number. Do I take myself off all our financial accounts so this person is unable to access them? But then I go through life with zero dollars in my name.
I felt like I had things under control until someone from the FTC mentioned that identity fraud victims often choose to remove their name from their mortgages so they don’t lose their house if they have to declare bankruptcy over charges made in their name.
Is this real life? I mean, one day I was stressed over a stray cat. The next day, I learn that someone out there has stolen my entire identity and potentially has access to all my money. Stress level: ONE MEEEEELLION.
There’s absolutely no tie in here between the current happenings of my life and this deliciously moist, citrusy blood orange olive oil cake. I suppose it’s just a long excuse for why I can’t come up with anything better to write about at the moment. My brain = dead.
But blood oranges are so perfectly in season right now, I just can’t wait until I’m in a better writing mood to share this. (Blood orange season may be long gone by then!)
So let’s just talk a little about this blood orange olive oil cake. One bowl. Mix by hand. Dairy-free. Moist and dreamy and big, soft crumbs with the perfectly refreshing hint of blood orange.
Blood orange slices baked on the bottom, flipped over to become the top.
So I guess this is an upside-down blood orange olive oil cake, but without the gooey, sticky mess that usually comes with upside-down cakes. (In other words – much fresher, more modern, and overall better.)
Yes, you can absolutely make this with any other citrus. Oranges, meyer lemons, grapefruits, clementines, etc. But if blood oranges are available, do it.
The beautiful, rosy reddish pink slices, the raspberry-like flavor – this blood orange olive oil cake is dessert worthy of a dinner party.
Or you know, a Monday night. Because it’s that easy.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
A moist and delicious, one bowl, mix by hand, dairy free olive oil cake cake full of blood oranges.
Ingredients:
- 4-5 blood oranges
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9″ springform pan.
- Slice two blood oranges into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Zest two more and set the zest aside. Juice these two oranges, followed by the third if necessary, to obtain 1/2-cup of blood orange juice.
- Line the bottom of the springform pan with the rounds of blood oranges.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add in the olive oil, eggs, vanilla, blood orange zest, and blood orange juice. Whisk again until ingredients are just combined and no lumps remain.
- Pre-heat oven to 350F. Oil a regular-sized bundt or springform pan.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top of the cake is brown and the edges begin to pull away from the side. A tester inserted into the cake will come out with a moist crumb.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then release the sides of the springform pan and invert onto a cooling rack.
- Immediately before serving, dust with confectioners sugar.
A Bunsen Burner Bakery Original Protocol
That looks terrific and sounds tasty! If I sub regular flour for the almond should it just be 1.5 cups o would it need an adjustment?
I’d start with 1.25 cups of all purpose flour and add the extra 0.25 cups if you think it’s necessary. Almond flour isn’t a direct one to one substitution, but a cake like this is forgiving enough that it should still work even if you use 1.5 cups of regular flour!
What a beautiful looking cake and I bet the smell is wonderful! My daughter is an Orange FREAK… I bet she’ll be right on top of baking this one 🙂
I love that you used blood oranges in this cake! What a fun twist!
My granddaughter can’t have dairy, so I havbeen struggling with finding desserts for holidays that she can eat. This looks delicious! You said it can be made with any Citrus, but what is your favorite sub for when blood oranges aren’t available? 🙂
I always love clementines in baked goods, so that would probably be my go-to substitution. I’d love to try a version with meyer lemons, though!
That sounds like more stress than any person should have to handle. I could definitely deal with the stray cat Way better than the identity fraud. Hope things are going better now! This cake though sounds delicious and the pictures are beautiful!
What a combination of ingredients you have here!! Never imagined a cake with olive oil as the main liquid and no dairy product!!
Blood oranges are one of my favorite fruits! They’re so sweet 🙂 And they look perfectly beautiful on this cake!
This looks so good to me. Im thinking it will be making its way to my luncheon next week! [email protected]
I am so so so so sorry to hear about the identity theft. Ugghh I hope things can get back to normal for you soon enough. Also, stray cats are so funny. We have one in our neighborhood too, who literally scared the crap out of me while I as photographing a recipe with the door open to get some light. The cat seriously tried to walk into my kitchen. Oh, and this blood orange cake looks amazing!
Haha! The stray clearly thought whatever recipe you were photographing smelled delicious and wanted to come sample a bite! 😉
Blood oranges are so beautiful (and so is your cake)! I used to get blood oranges from a friend’s tree.
I hope things get better! I can’t imagine them getting any worse!
Oooh, blood oranges fresh from the source – sounds delicious! I wish I had a friend with a blood orange tree. 😉
I feel for you on the identity fraud. It seems to me that this happens so often that the authorities, banks etc. need to have a better solution for the innocent victim.
The blood orange cake looks divine. Love the color.
I must admit I have never eaten a cake with Blood Orange before.. I love the colors. Will save the recipe for when I have some on hand. Thanks
That looks very pretty!! colors are so pleasing and inviting!!!
Julia, this cake looks amazing! I have never in my life tried blood orange. I don’t even know where I would find it in my location. Could I substitute with just regular oranges?
Yes, definitely with regular oranges, or clementines, or grapefruits – whatever citrus you like the most!
Julie, I’m sorry you had a trying week but it seems like it ended well. And I am sooooo with you when it comes to AmEx! They are fantastic. They’ve saved me several times one was with a scam through Amazon. They went out of their way to resolve the problem. Now, speaking of cakes — looks delicious! I’m pinning the recipe.
American Express is *the best*. They make it so easy! Definitely a customer for life. 🙂
The cake looks really moist and spongy. I am just trying to imagine the burst of flavors. Looks really good.
Urgh Julie, what an absolute nightmare you’ve been having! I can’t imagine how stressful that must be, having to clean up the mess and protect yourself for the future – big hugs for you. Thank god for cake huh? Cake makes almost all the things better 😀 Here’s to better days for you xxx
Wow you’ve had a terrible week! I hope you enjoyed a slice or two of the cake with a laaaarge glass of wine! The recipe looks divine!
Oh Julie, my bag was robbed once with all the credit cards, drivers license,… and its not pretty. Hang in there girl:)
I thought I was having a stressful time with a kitchen renovation but wow! We have had out debit card number stolen quite a bit and now use amex mostly. they are great at getting with you about fraud. I would freak if someone got my SS number. I know I could eat this whole cake if I was under that kind of stress! If my kitchen doesn’t get done soon I might just make this and eat the whoel thing in one setting!
OMG what a stressful week! That SUCKS about the identity theft being so insane. :/ You definitely deserved to eat this entire cake if you wanted to. I know I would’ve done that if roles were reversed.
Here’s to this week being significantly less stressful!
What a bummer about the identity theft. Some people don’t have scruples. This cake looks fabulous as do all your food!
We have been victims of ID theft and I know how stressful and time consuming it is to clean up the mess. Coming to the recipe, this can totally cheer someone at this condition. Love the gorgeous color of the blood orange and layering it on the cake is a marvelous idea.
This cake is beautiful–exactly the kind of dessert I prefer, especially with the olive oil and almond flour. Your week sounded like absolute hell, but congratulations on persevering and for getting a gorgeous cake post out despite it all. Identity theft sounds like the worst nightmare to untangle, so good luck unraveling it all and getting your life back!
Hi Julie,
With blood oranges in their brief season, I decided to make this over the weekend. It has a very mild flavor, both for the EVOO and orange. Sometimes the olive oil can dominate the flavor in a way that doesn’t do anything for me. It looks really nice out of the oven and isn’t too sweet. Easy to make.
Yes, this is definitely light on the olive oil flavor, which I also like! I like olive oil as a dairy free option, more than wanting to bite into something that tastes heavily of olive oil. I hope you liked it – it’s a favorite of mine for a lighter, less decadent dessert!
Such a stunning cake! Can’t wait to try it while citrus is still bountiful. Pinned, and thanks! –G
This Blood Orange cake looks fantastic and sounds super easy. I am in awe with your identity thief case..That is just horrible!!