09/27/2026
Is there anything better than baking with your best friend?
Maybe this apple olive oil cake…maybe…
We made this on a slow weekend afternoon, and it’s exactly the kind of cake I want heading into fall: deeply spiced, packed with apple, incredibly moist from the olive oil, and somehow even better the next day.
Save this one for your next fall bake:
APPLE OLIVE OIL CAKE WITH SPICED SUGAR
You’ll need
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
• ½ cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tsp for the topping and more for the pan
• 2 sweet apples, such as Golden Delicious or Gala
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp cardamom (or do what we did and swap in ¼ tsp nutmeg if you’re grocery store is sold out of cardamom lol)
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp kosher salt
To make it
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with olive oil, then dust the inside with granulated sugar.
2. Peel and grate the apples on the large holes of a box grater. Wrap them in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
3. Whisk together the cinnamon, pepper, cardamom (or nutmeg) and ginger. Reserve a little of the spice mixture for the topping, then whisk the flour and baking powder into the rest.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, brown sugar, vanilla and salt until lighter and well combined. Slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking.
5. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined, then fold in the grated apples. Don’t overmix.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Mix the reserved spices with the remaining 2 tsp granulated sugar and sprinkle it over the top.
7. Bake for about 1 hour, until deeply golden and a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan.
And yes, it’s one of those cakes that gets even better after it sits for a day (if you can help it)!
