Pistachio Olive Oil Cake

sliced pistachio olive oil cake on a wire rack

Olive Oil Cake? Whaaa?

Yes, friends. Olive oil isn’t just for savory dishes. Its flavor can pair wonderfully with nutty, citrusy, sweet notes. Also, it being an oil and such, it makes any cake you bake it into incredibly moist. So Olive Oil Cake is a total winner in my book.

Besides this olive oil pistachio cake being olive oil-y and lovely, I made it extra EXTRA moist by adding in ground pistachios. Basically, any time you add nut flour into a cake, it creates a really silky texture. I’ve done this multiple times now (see these teacakes and this strawberry almond cake) and it’s increds.

I chose to add pistachios because their slightly floral notes pair well with olive oil. Plus, pistachios on cake are gorgeous amiright?

pistachio olive oil cake on a wire rack

Omg also let’s talk about this olive oil! This is Lucini extra virgin olive oil. I became familiar with it a few years ago when we were at a family friends’ house and the dad raved about it. I was like, yeah, but how good can it really be?

Well, one bite of a crusty baguette dipped in Lucini later, I was like OH, THAT GOOD. OK I GET IT NOW.

Point being, I recommend using a high-quality extra virgin olive oil for this pistachio cake. You don’t want to skimp here—the higher quality, the better the overall flavor will be.

pistachio olive oil cake with lemon icing

How to make this pistachio olive oil cake

This pistachio olive oil cake is a cinch to make. Before prepping the cake batter, you first need to grind the pistachios until they form a fine powder. To do this, add a small amount of pistachios into a high-powdered blender and blend until they reach the desired consistency. You want to do this in small batches to avoid creating a pistachio butter!

Once the pistachios have been ground up, you can move onto the cake batter. First, whisk the olive oil, sugar, and eggs until fluffy. Then mix in the ground pistachios, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest. Fold in the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined (don’t over mix, though!). Pour the olive oil cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Alternately, you can gently press your thumb into the top of the cake to see if it springs back quickly.

sliced pistachio olive oil cake

While the cake is cooling, make the lemon icing. The lemon icing is a simple mixture of lemon juice and powdered sugar, and it complements the floral pistachio cake perfectly. You want the icing to be on the thicker side, but still spreadable. If you make the icing too thin, it’ll be more like a glaze and will soak into the cake rather than sit on top. Because this olive oil cake is so moist already, you don’t want to add any more moisture into it.

Wait until the cake is fully cooled to ice it, and then sprinkle on the crushed pistachios and dig in!

pistachio olive oil cake

Next time you’re making a cake, look no further. This rich, moist, fragrant Pistachio Olive Oil Cake is where it’s at.