Orange Olive Oil Cake (Greek Melomakarouno Cake)
The moistest and most flavorful cake easy to make and delicious with some tea or coffee.
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When you deconstruct a traditional Greek cookie, take the ingredients and flavors and apply it to a cake, you get this moist and delicious masterpiece.
I grew up eating melomakarouna at all family functions (especially around the holidays). It’s a staple Greek cookie. Its basically spiced with cinnamon, cloves, lots of orange juice and zest AND they are soaked in a honey syrup.
Since I didn’t want to soak this cake in syrup, I opted for a vanilla orange icing on top. You can also just dust the top with some powdered sugar for a lovely finish.
I also peeled some of the skin of my oranges for an extra topping. However, the perfect final touch would be some crushed walnuts on top of the icing for the authentic Melomakarouno finish.
Orange Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 oranges, 1 tbs zest + juiced
- 1 tbs cognac (optional)
- 1¼ cup flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Icing:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbs fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
Cake:
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until mixed together. Add in the oil and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in the orange juice, zest and cognac and mix well.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry to the wet bowl, half a cup at a time, beating with the mixer until done and just combined. Transfer your batter to the pan and bake for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely prior to icing.
Icing:
- Whisk together the ingredients until combined. If too thick add some more OJ. If too thin for your preference add more powdered sugar.
Notes
You can also crumble some chopped walnuts on top of the icing.
You can also skip the icing and just dust some powdered sugar on top of your cooled cake.
Nutrition
Calories: 378kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 284mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 142IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg
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I just made this cake and it truly tastes like a big melomakarouno! My only issue is my batter was not thick. It was watery. I followed it to the letter. What could I have done wrong? Thank you!!!!!
Hi Anna, glad you enjoyed it – my guess with the batter though is maybe. your flour is different than mine. Next time just add 1 tbs flour at a time to the batter to reach the consistency you prefer!
Thank you!! Love your recipes!!! So glad I found you!!
The recipe calls for the juice of 2 oranges….. approximately what would the measurement be?
Hi Georgina, I used two medium sized oranges
Can you use EVOO or regular olive oil is better ?
Hi Christine, Yes.. you can absolutely use EVOO. Enjoy the cake!