Baking & Breads BAKING

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Name: Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 9 servings
Cuisine: Baking
Ingredients: 200 g sugar; 120 ml olive oil; 2 eggs; 180 ml milk; 160 g plain flour; 50 g cocoa; 1 tsp bicarbonate; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tsp vanilla

Olive oil stays liquid at room temperature, so the crumb stays tender long after butter cakes go stale..

By Dana Reyes

Published 23 Sep 2026 · Tested 2 times · 0 comments

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake — A dusting of sugar on top crisps into a thin shell as it cools.

15 min

Prep time

40 min

Cook time

Serves

4.7

NEW

The oil keeps it moist for days

Olive oil stays liquid at room temperature, so the crumb stays tender long after butter cakes go stale.

Use a fruit-forward oil, not a peppery one, or it fights the chocolate. A good everyday oil is perfect.

We tested it with cocoa alone and with melted chocolate added. Cocoa is cleaner and more reliable, so that is the base recipe.

Instructions

About 55 min from start to finish

Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F and line a round tin.

Whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla until smooth.

Sift in the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate and salt; fold to a batter.

Pour into the tin and bake 35-40 minutes until springy.

Cool in the tin, then turn out.

Testing notes & substitutions

Three rounds of testing turned up three things worth knowing before you start cooking.

Richer

Swap 60 ml of the milk for strong coffee to deepen the chocolate.

GF

Use a 1:1 flour blend; it holds up well here.

Questions we get a lot

Keeps how long?

Three to four days covered, and it is best on day two.

Too dense?

Do not overbake; a skewer should come out with a few crumbs.

Dana Reyes

Dana has cooked professionally for eleven years and has been testing recipes for Hearth & Thyme since 2019. She writes about weeknight cooking, slow breads, and the small techniques that quietly change a dish. Every recipe she publishes is cooked at least twice, in an ordinary home oven.