Have you been skeptical about making an olive oil cake? I was for a long time too. Until now…This has been by far the best cake I’ve ever made. Well, this, and my carrot cake to be honest with you. Hands down the chocolatiest, most moist, decadent cake yet. WOW! 

I’ve heard of olive oil cakes but truly never embraced making one myself. Although I’m always try to come up with lactose and dairy free sweets, olive oil didn’t seem all that appealing to me in a dessert. So let me tell you, just as I thought, my first try at an olive oil cake was a major fail! It turned into an oily, hot, eggy mess! I didn’t have the right measurements, eggs cooked in the batter–I mean, it was horrible to say the least. 

However, after much contemplation and research, I finally found a way to make an olive oil cake that was easy, and good enough for me to share and eat! It’s vegan! That’s right, no egg, milk, or butter. I gave up on the egg since my first cake fail. I’m proud of this cake. It is rich with chocolate flavor, has a great texture from the chocolate chips, and rich depth from the coffee. Oh, and let’s not forget it has a strawberry filling. Yum!

Clearly I wasn’t going to make a buttercream frosting for my fabulous dairy free cake. So, I thought back to my cashew ice cream and thought cashews might work perfectly for this cake. While it is not very pretty, it is very good. The creaminess from the cashews along with the coconut oil flavor, a wonderful contrast of sweetness to this otherwise dark cake. 

Let your frosting chill in the freezer as long as possible, then frost the cake. Additionally, if you are going to photograph it, do it quickly, as the frosting melts quickly and turns a matte beige color. However, if you don’t mind the color of the frosting, this cake combo will last in the fridge for days for you to enjoy. Let’s eat!

Here is the recipe:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

Servings: 6-8 

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour
• ¾ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup of mini chocolate chips (dairy free, I used Enjoy Life brand)
• 1 ½ tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of salt
• ¾ cup of light brown sugar
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of fresh brewed coffee, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp of white vinegar

Ingredients for the vegan, gluten-free cashew icing:

• ¾ cup of raw cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours then drained
• 3 Tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp of coconut oil, melted
• 3 Tbsp of water, plus more as needed

Ingredients for the strawberry filling:

• 2 cups of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved
• ½ cup of granulated sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp of water
• 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract

Directions for the olive oil cake:

1. Preheat the oven at 350° F.
2. Use two 8” round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment, grease the sides, and dust with cocoa powder. Alternatively, I used three 6” cake pans instead. Use whatever cake pans you have on hand and follow this step.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the alll purpose flour, then add the cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Give the ingredients a quick whisk.
4. Next, add the coffee, olive oil, vinegar, and lastly the mini chocolate chips into your dry ingredients. Fold together until you achieve a smooth batter.
5. Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for 30 minutes.
6. At the 28 minute mark, insert a toothpick or the tip of a butter knife to check doneness, if it comes out clean, remove the pans from the oven.
7. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Directions for the cashew frosting:

Note: For this step I used my food processor, but a high powered blender would also work.

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor or blender, and mix on high until you achieve a smooth and creamy texture. You may need to add additional Tbsp of water, depending on how thick or thin you want your frosting. 
2. Transfer to a freezer safe tupperware and freeze it for a minimum of 1 hour, but preferably 2 hours.
3. Once you take it out of the freezer, frost the cooled cake immediately and serve.

Directions for the strawberry filling:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the strawberries, sugar, pinch of salt, cornstarch, water, and vanilla extract. Stir all the ingredients together.
2. Simmer until the sugar has melted and the strawberries are soft but not broken down. There should be a syrup like sauce. This should take approximately 5 to 10 minutes. You may need ½ tsp of additional cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
3. Once it has thickened, remove from the heat to let it cool completely before filling your cake. Enjoy!