Italian Blood Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Italian Blood Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake is a dense, not overly sweet cake fragrant with the perfume of olive oil and orange. Eat it for breakfast, snack or dessert!

Italian Blood orange olive oil Bundt cake. Have there ever been seven more delicious words, when strung together?

Let’s deconstruct this, from the back, forward. First of all, Bundt cake is the most comforting shape, reminding you of weekends with mom baking, of wedges of dense, sweet cake that you were allowed to eat for breakfast, snack or dessert. You could grab the knife and cut a sliver nearly every time you went near the kitchen, and it seemed no one was the wiser that you were “evening out the edge.”

Next, olive oil. In a cake? YES! Emphatically yes. A high quality extra-virgin olive oil lends not only the fat that cake needs, but unbeatable balanced flavor.

Blood oranges? Yes for perfumey flavor and charming color!

And Italian? Yes, always yes, to any recipe with a pedigree from the home country of my mother’s side of the family.

How to make Italian Blood Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

First, as always, gather your ingredients so you know you have everything on hand.

Zest the blood orange and the lemon. I like to use a sharp microplane zester that is easy to use and does a great job. Mine is by Deiss, and it works really well for citrus zest, Parmesan cheese, chocolate or anything you need to zest. {affiliate link}

Beat the eggs and sugar until eggs slightly change color to a pale yellow. Add both of the the zests. It looks a bit like an abstract painting, doesn’t it?

Measure your olive oil and add it to the bowl. I’m using Garcia de la Cruz Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, an early harvest (made from the first olives of the year), organic, prestige oil from Spain. Look at that gorgeous green color. The fragrance is wonderful! Use the best olive oil you can find. I’ve linked it here so you can grab yourself a bottle of this award-winner! {affiliate link}

The very red blood orange juice will also add color and fragrance to the cake.

Here’s what the batter looks like. Those little flecks are the zest.

Pour batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

There will likely be some cracks on top of the cake when it is done. That is fine; the top of the cake here is really going to be the bottom of the cake when you turn it out of the pan. That’s part of the beauty of a Bundt cake. The bottom of the pan, with all the ridges or designs from the pan, becomes the beautiful top of the cake, and the top of the cake with all the cracks becomes the bottom.

See what I mean?

Drizzle with glaze (which is pink from the blood orange juice), and get ready to show it off!

You could dust with a bit of powdered sugar if you like, or not. It’s up to you! I’m using a handy little powdered sugar dusting wand here. {affiliate link}

Blood Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: Makes 1 cake, serves 8-10

Blood Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Ingredients

Nonstick spray
Flour for Bundt pan
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 blood orange, zested and juiced (save zest and juice separately)
1 lemon, zested
3/4 cup high quality extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons blood orange juice
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons blood orange juice
1 teaspoon half and half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Heat oven to 325F degrees. Spray an 11-cup Bundt pan (the regular size) with nonstick spray, and sprinkle lightly with flour. Tilt the pan and tap, tilt and tap, until flour lightly coats the inside, including the center post.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar and salt until the eggs are pale yellow, about 1-2 minutes. Add zest of a blood orange and zest of a lemon and mix. Add olive oil, milk, 3 tablespoons blood orange juice and almond extract and mix well.
Measure flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and whisk to combine. Add this flour mixture to the wet mixture, and mix on low for a few seconds, to combine. Do not over mix or you will make a tough cake because you will have developed the gluten in the flour.
Pour into prepared Bundt pan and bake for about 35 minutes, until cake is golden brown on top and a wooden toothpick or skewer stuck into the center comes out clean.
When cake is done, remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 20 or so minutes. Run a thin plastic spatula around the edge where the cake meets the pan, just to loosen it. Place a wire cooling rack on top of the pan, and, holding the cake pan AND the rack together, invert the warm cake onto the rack. Put the rack with cake onto the counter, and gently and slowly remove the cake pan, revealing your gorgeous Bundt cake.
Allow to cool completely, at least an hour or even more.
Make glaze: While cake is cooling, make the glaze. In a small, deep bowl, use a small spoon to stir together powdered sugar, blood orange juice, half and half and vanilla. The glaze will be slightly pink from the blood orange juice. When cake is entirely cool, drizzle all the glaze over the cake. (If you add the glaze while the cake is hot, it will soak in and won't be as visible.)
Slice and serve. Serves 8-10, maybe 12, depending on size of slices.

Notes

Recipe source: Adapted from a recipe from Saveur, which they got from the Dalla Rosa Alda restaurant in the Valpolicella region of Italy.

https://www.shockinglydelicious.com/italian-blood-orange-olive-oil-bundt-cake/

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Looking for another easy blood orange cake?

How about Blood Orange and Olive Oil Polenta Upside Down Cake?

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Olive oil was sent by Garcia de la Cruz and blood oranges were sent by Melissa’s Produce, for recipe development.

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Tagged as: blood orange, bundt cake, cake, dessert

{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }

Christopher D Pierangeli January 14, 2023 at 1:08 pm

The ingredients ask for baking powder, the directions state baking soda. Which one is correct?

Dorothy Reinhold February 8, 2023 at 6:15 pm: Christopher,
It is baking powder! Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I typo-ed it in a moment of inattention. I appreciate you letting me know, and I have corrected it in the instructions!

Beth February 16, 2021 at 5:00 pm