Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

 November 2024

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2023

A few years ago I made Olive Oil Cake. Despite the name, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It did not taste of olives, it was very moist, and had a great room-temperature shelf life. I was thus happy when a chocolate version of the cake recipe was published. I had to try it.

Olive oil and bittersweet chocolate were microwaved in a bowl until the chocolate was melted. Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt were whisked together in a bowl. In another bowl, sugar, eggs, and an egg yolk were whisked. The chocolate olive oil mixture was added and whisked to combine. Milk was whisked into the mixture. The flour mixture was whisked into the liquid mixture. The batter was poured into a greased springform pan and dusted with granulated sugar. It was baked in a 350°  oven for about 40 minutes. Total time from start to taking it from the oven was one hour with 40 minutes of that baking time. 

This cake was very easy to make requiring just 20 minutes from beginning until it was ready for the oven.  No stand mixer was used, common ingredients, all mixing was done by hand, and no frosting. The cake was very moist for each of the four evenings that we had it but even so we enjoyed it with a scoop of ice cream on the side.  It is not the most intense chocolate cake you've ever had, but it is still very good, especially given how little time needs to be invested to make it.