Olive Oil Cake with Tahini Buttercream

I really hate overly sweet cakes so this was my solution to all the sugary birthday cakes. This cake is fresh, a little savory, with just the right amount of richness. Olive oil cakes are truly just so superior.

Olive Oil Cake

-Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Olive Oil Cake

Notes and Tips

-You must use JUST Egg for this recipe you cannot use another egg subtitle.

-Soy milk is ideal but oat milk is fine.

-If you’re making this for a special event, invest in some good olive oil! I like to use Graza Drizzle Olive Oil when making this for someones birthday. But just regular olive oil will get the job done!

-Give your oven lots of time to preheat to 350 before you put your cake in! If you really want to get into baking I suggest you get an internal oven thermometer.

-I said it before but I’ll say it again, make sure everything is room temperature before you start baking otherwise your mixture will split due to some items being colder than others.

-I recommend using cake strips to help keep your bake level, but they are not required.

-I’d use a baking scale if you have one and measure by the ounces rather than the cups!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (8.75 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

9 TBSP JUST Egg-ROOM TEMPERATURE!!

1 1/4 cups (8.75 ounces) sugar

3/4 cup quality extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 cup soy milk-ROOM TEMPERATURE!!

Optional: 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Topping: Tahini buttercream, flakey salt, sprigs on thyme, orange zest

Directions

-Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line with parchment paper a standard 8in cake pan, or for two layers a 6in set of cake pans. (Really whatever you have, the pans should just not be filled more than 2/3 the way up with batter.)

-Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl and set aside.

-Combine JUST Egg, sugar, optional lemon zest, and whip until mixture is lighter and only slightly fluffy. You are mostly looking for the sugar to dissolve somewhat. Maybe 2-3 minutes on high on the mixer.

-With mixer running on high, slowly steam in oil, around 2 minutes. Mix until oil is fully incorporated. The egg and sugar mixer should thicken and fluff a little.

-Add half of your dry mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated.

-Add all of the soy milk and mix until combined.

-Add remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated, scraping down bowl as needed.

-Transfer batter to prepared pan. 

-Bake until cake is deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with few crumbs attached, 40-45 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool for 10-15 minutes then flip out onto the rack and let cool completely.

-Ice with a tahini buttercream and decorate with fresh thyme, flakey salt and orange zest.

Tahini Buttercream

Tahini paired with a bit of sweetness slaps so hard. I made this buttercream to go with my olive oil cake. This is a very standard American buttercream recipe.

Notes and Tips

-I highly, highly, recommend you use Country Crock Vegan Olive Oil sticks (the avocado oil one is also okay). You can go online and see what grocery stores near you sell their brand. This is the best vegan butter for baking on the market. It whips really well and works great for buttercream.

-If your mixture starts to split then that means the butter was not room temperature. Put the mixture down and step away from the bowl!! Give it 10-15 min to become room temperature and start mixing again.

-I like a lot more than 1/2 cup of tahini, so go by your personal taste!

-If the mixture is too thick you can add 1 tablespoon at a time of soy milk (room temperature!!!) to help thin it out. But make sure it’s not too thin!

Ingredients (This amount makes enough for a two tier cake like the photo. If you are making a single layer, cut the recipe in half)

-1 cup (aka 2 sticks) Country Crock Vegan Olive Oil butter sticks-ROOM TEMPERATURE!!

-1/2 tsp salt

-2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (you may have to add more depending on the moisture content in the air)

-1/2 cup tahini or more to taste (make sure to mix your tahini first so you don’t just grab a bunch of oil sitting on the top)

Directions

-Beat butter in a stand mixer until very fluffy and light in color, add in salt.

-Add sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time.

-Add in tahini until well incorporated. Make sure your tahini is smooth beforehand to avoid any lumps.