Gluten Free Lemon Olive Oil Cake 🍋🍋🍋🍋

I fully admit to being very confused by the concept of an olive oil cake. I tried this as a nod to the recent holiday of Chanukah, in which olive oil is the star of the show. This cake has Limoncello, a fun detail. The cake came out extremely moist, and I recommend making it the day before serving, so that the oil can settle a bit. Olive oil is obviously far healthier than butter, and there is no white flour or white sugar in this cake. It’s also dairy free. Regular flour and sugar can certainly be swapped in for the gluten free flour and sugar replacement.

Both my adult friends as well as my daughter loved the results. It sliced beautifully and needed no glaze, since it was sweet enough. I’m very excited to share this with you as part of my “cleaner indulgence” series.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cups extra Virgin olive oil
3 large eggs room temperature
1 and 1/4 cups oat milk (I used Chobani extra creamy)
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Limoncello
1 and 1/2 cups monkfruit sweetener, the kind that subs for white sugar
2 cups plus 2 tbsp gluten free baking flour
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
Optional confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325, since this recipe calls for slower baking. Grease a 10 inch springform pan very well, all around. Cut a piece of parchment paper to line bottom of pan. Grease paper.

In a large bowl, mix olive oil and eggs. Add the oat milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and Limoncello. Mix well.

Add in monk fruit sweetener. Whisk to incorporate.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet mixture and combine, don’t over mix. Batter will be thin.

Pour batter into the SPRINGFORM (pan type matters here). Put the cake pan on top of a baking sheet to catch and oil that might seep out; you don’t want to smoke your oven. Bake anywhere from 65 to 75 minutes, checking after an hour with a toothpick (which should come out clean with some moist crumbs). It’s normal for a darker golden brown spot to form in the center. Let cake cool for an hour in pan, then release sides and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooking. Fresh lemon slices and berries make a pretty garnish, and a light dusting of confectioners sugar certainly never hurts.