Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake Recipe for Dessert or Breakfast (7 Ingredients) by Jan Mostrom

Portugal has become a favorite destination for many, myself included. I love learning about local Portuguese customs and culture especially because my daughter lives there. When I saw this traditional Portuguese orange and olive oil cake recipe I just had to make it to see if it was as good as it sounded! It was!

This light and fluffy orange cake recipe is so moist and has a wonderful flavor thanks to the fresh orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. Although this cake is light and sweet, some Portuguese locals are known to have it for breakfast at a traditional local cafe. Next time I’m in Portugal I’ll be sure to try the local version and see if mine is at all comparable to the cake served there!

David Leite, a Portuguese American food writer, shared his orange olive oil cake recipe on the James Beard website. "When I lived in Lisbon, a few times a week, I'd trudge up the hill from my apartment and pop into Papas for breakfast, perhaps one of the tiniest restaurants in the city ... My go-to breakfast was this dessert cake. It's dense, moist and deeply flavored, and, I'm not ashamed to say, the servers tended to have a generous hand when cutting slices."

To make this moist cake recipe you will need only seven ingredients. Here is your short shopping list: fresh navel oranges (check out the health benefits of oranges), flour (all-purpose or gluten-free), baking powder, kosher salt, eggs, granulated sugar and olive oil (extra mild if possible) and optional powdered sugar for dusting.

Serve this citrus cake for dessert, breakfast, as a sweet snack or even as part of an elegant brunch spread. And be generous when cutting the slices!

Cuisine: Portuguese
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus 15 minutes to cool
Cook Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Servings: 10 to 12 

Ingredients

• 6 - 7 large navel oranges
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free 1:1 flour (I used gluten-free flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 5 large eggs
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil (if you don’t have mild olive oil just use what you have on hand)
• powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Here's how to make it: 

1. Wash 3 oranges and zest them. Juice all the oranges. (You should have 1 1/2 cups of juice. If you are short on orange juice, juice another orange or use refrigerated orange juice.) Set aside.
   
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
   
3. Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer and blend the eggs on medium for about 1 minute.
   
4. Add sugar to the eggs and mix for about 3 minutes.
   
5. With mixer on low, alternate adding the olive oil and then the flour mixture until they are both fully incorporated.
   
6. Add half of the orange juice and all the zest and mix on low until most of the juice is blended in. Then add the second half of the juice and mix until the batter is all blended together. (Be careful not to splash any juice over the edge.)
   
7. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray and gently scrape the batter into it.
   
8. Bake in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Check the cake about halfway to make sure it isn’t too brown. If it is, just lightly cover with foil to complete the cooking time. (Mine was just right without foil.)
   
9. Remove the cake and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
   
10. Invert the cake and continue cooling or move to a cake plate and dust it with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve immediately or wait a day (if you can!) to let the flavors meld even more. Store the cake in an airtight container to keep it fresh.
    

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