Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

If you’re a chocoholic like me, you need to make this Chocolate Olive Oil Cake! It’s rich, luscious and oh-so-decadent. Basically everything you could want in a chocolate cake! The chocolate flavour is intensified with a silky chocolate glaze, and a sprinkling of flaky sea salt.

Rich Chocolate Cake, with the addition of olive oil and flaky sea salt

Incorporating extra virgin olive oil into this chocolate cake gives it a subtle earthy quality. A bit hard to describe, but once you try it you’ll understand what I’m trying to say. The cake is topped with a shiny chocolate glaze and then sprinkled with flaky sea salt. The sea salt contrasts with the chocolate to give the cake a pop of sweet and savory notes. Definitely do not skip the sea salt to get the full tasting experience here.

Ingredients needed for Chocolate Olive Oil Cake:

For the cake:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa for this cake)
• Good-quality extra virgin olive oil
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Fine sea salt
• Granulated (white) sugar
• Dark brown sugar
• Coffee
• White vinegar

For the glaze:

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Good-quality extra virgin olive oil
• Maple syrup
• Flaky sea salt

How to make Chocolate Olive Oil Cake:

1. Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together first: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the granulated sugar and whisk to combine.
3. Then add the brown sugar and olive oil. Whisk to combine.
4. Add the coffee and vinegar, whisk until smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make the glaze, melt the chocolate chips in a bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring constantly until the chocolate is completely melted.
7. In a bowl, combine the melted chocolate, cocoa powder, olive oil and maple syrup. Stir until smooth.

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Use a good-quality olive oil:

Since the olive oil is one of the main ingredients in this cake, it’s important to use a good-quality, extra virgin olive oil. Don’t use regular olive oil or the light variety, as the taste won’t be as pleasing. The combination of extra virgin olive oil, chocolate and sea salt is just heavenly. True decadence that isn’t complicated to achieve.

Not all chocolate chips are created equal:

When selecting your chocolate chips for the glaze, make sure that they are able to be melted easily. A lot of chocolate chips tend to have a lower amount of cocoa butter, which makes them more resistant to heat. If you’re unsure which brand of chocolate chips will melt well, I suggest chopping up a block of chocolate.

Vegan friendly:

The Chocolate Olive Oil Cake (with no glaze) is vegan as it doesn’t contain any butter, milk or eggs like your typical chocolate cakes. No waiting for the butter and eggs to come to room temperature! And the cake doesn’t require an egg substitute like flax eggs either. To make the glaze vegan, simply use dairy-free chocolate chips.

Storage of Chocolate Olive Oil Cake:

One thing about this cake that is almost guaranteed: It will never be dry! It can be made a day in advance (and I would suggest doing this as the chocolate flavor will have time to intensify). It keeps extremely well in the refrigerator and the interesting thing is, you don’t even have to wait for it to come to room temperature before eating! I mean, you can, but as someone who generally doesn’t like ‘cold’ cakes, I was surprised this one tasted so good straight out of the fridge. Store it in an airtight container to stop any food smells in the fridge from affecting the cake. It was still perfectly moist several days after it was made!